The Next Step
by animeinsanity112989
Summary: Mostly SasuSaku, but will contain NaruHina and other couples. For full summary please read inside. I might change rating later on. Enjoy!
1. Petals Fall like Tears

Okay, so before I get started on this story, I would like to say to all of the people who are still waiting on my unfinished stories. It is true that I've been having trouble writing my stories, but I like to write whatever comes to mind and this current story has taken priority. Once I get it out of my system, I'll return to writing my other fics.

In this fic, it will consist of Sasuke and Sakura; Naruto and Hinata; and other couples in the series. Seeing as how I can only list two people that are mostly involved in the story, that's not going to be the case here. I'm going to start out with SasuSaku, but deal with me if the next chapter is primarily focused on NaruHina. The other couples I mentioned won't have their own chapter to themselves (if I can help it) but you'll probably see some fluff in the background of the story.

Now, let me set the scene for you. Five years have passed since the end of the Fourth Shinobi War, and though it had left many faces and minds scarred, everything was starting to return to normal. Naruto had finally gained the respect he deserved not only from his village but from other villages as well. Madara had gone missing before being captured and Kabuto had broken from his cell six months after being caught. Sasuke was badly injured during his final battle with Naruto and still remains in a coma in the intensive care unit of Konoha's hospital. Naruto was also injured during the battle, costing him three years of his life for physical therapy so that he could still be a ninja, and Sakura couldn't help but to stay at Sasuke's side day in and day out. She had also made sure not to neglect Naruto, though a certain ninja had achieved such praise and popularity that he wasn't ever alone. And though the five great nations seemed to be under a good alliance, the facade wouldn't last long—causing ties between the nations to diminish with the exception of Suna and Konoha.

"..." means that they're talking.

'…' or _Thought_ means that they're thinking.

So, with that all said and done, let the story commence!

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><p>Petals Fall like Tears<p>

"You're growing out your hair again?" Ino asked as she made the usual rounds around the hospital with Sakura. The conversation hadn't been anything but small talk until Ino hit the obvious change in her senpai. "You do know that you're wasting your time, right?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." But of course Sakura knew all too well what Ino was talking about. Since Sasuke had been admitted into the hospital, she was there every night and day checking his vitals or changing his bandages, though all of his wounds were healed by now. Every day, she hoped that he would wake up and finally notice her, though she knew that he did wake up he would either be sent to jail or executed.

"Yo, earth to Sakura! Have you been listening?" Ino had stopped to turn around and look at her. She had her hands on her hips and a very frightening expression across her face.

Sakura simply sighed. Lately, she had been losing herself to her thoughts and though she didn't mind the alone time, she could tell that it was starting to bother her friends. "I'm sorry, Ino. What did you say?"

"I said give up on him. He's better off dead." She crossed her arms over her chest. Sakura knew that Ino didn't mean the words she had just said, but it was something she had been telling herself since he'd arrived at the hospital because whether he woke up or not the outcome was still the same. It was better to get used to the truth before you had to face it.

"You don't mean that."

"Of course I mean that, Sakura. When haven't I meant what I said?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?" Sakura tried to joke. It was easier to deal with her pain with laughter than actually facing it, but she knew that she would face it one day. Hell, if it wasn't for Tsunade-sama, Sasuke would've been executed instead of admitted to the hospital—which reminded her that she needed to thank the woman.

Not wanting to hear Ino—of all people—to lecture her, Sakura walked right passed her and continued through her daily routine. She changed the bandages of the wounded and gave medicine to the ill, but not a single second went by that stopped her from thinking about the room at the end of the hall. Every time she got close to his door, her heart would start racing and her pulse would start to beat in her ears. She was actually a bit relieved that he wasn't awake to see her acting like a child again, like all those years ago, because she knew that she had matured but was afraid that he didn't know it yet. If she was going to make a good impression on the man, she wouldn't want it to be like the last one.

Without even realizing it, it was time to attend to Sasuke. Since he was in a coma, she had to check on him every few hours everyday. She had to stretch his legs and arms for him so that the muscle wouldn't deteriorate and also to change his I.V and feed him. He was unconscious so she could actually feed him, but she could give him the nutrients that his body needed through a needle.

She slowly opened the door to his room and peeked inside. Sometimes there would be a sleeping Naruto in a chair by his side, and though Sasuke's health was important, she didn't want to wake up the savior of their village. Sakura remembered all those years ago when Naruto was such a pest, but reflecting on those moments made her feel awful. She was so mean to him and he didn't deserve that treatment, but now he had gained the trust and respect that he had always wanted—though she knew that he still wanted something that only she could give him.

Before the war had started, she told Naruto that she loved him for the sake of ending his pursuit of Sasuke and though he was eager to accept it, he had seen through her facade. It wasn't that she didn't mean what she said, it's that her love for him wasn't on the same level as the love she felt for Sasuke. He was more like her little brother and nothing would change that, but that doesn't stop Naruto from still pestering her.

Today, Sasuke's room was empty except for the small vase of lilies on his bedside table. The soft beeps of the machines were the only sounds in the room which gave Sakura a chill that ran all the way up her spine. Immediately, she rushed to the windows and threw them open to let the soft summer breeze through and circulate the stale air that had been cooped up since last night. The laughter of children and the tweeting of birds seeped into the room, bringing much wanted life into the otherwise dead room.

_Not dead_, she thought. "He's not dead." She muttered to herself. Thinking such things would only lead down the road to truth, and that was not something she wanted to come true. "Hello, Sasuke. I'm back."

Sakura had read once that coma patients could still hear and understand what's said around them, so everyday she would enter his room and tell her about her day. Sometimes she would just let the silence of the room absorb her and her thoughts, and other times she would tell him all about her dreams or hopes. It felt that he was the only one who would listen to her when it came to deep feelings, but that was only because he didn't have a choice to talk back. One dream that she had involved Sasuke waking from his coma during the middle of one of her usual conversations and they would just talk. Then talking would lead to confessions and confessions would leave to wild and passionate—

She had lost herself in one of her daydreams again, so she stole herself away from the window to take a seat by Sasuke's side. Sakura had performed all that was necessary for now and was going to fit herself down in her other daily routine. "I had another dream last night." She began.

Sakura took hold of his hand as she explained all about her dream to the sleeping man. Occasionally, she would smile at him if something she said seemed funny to her or a tear would escape if something she said was saddening. Hours had gone by since the time she sat down to tell her story. The sun was now casting deep shadows across Sasuke's room, sending the usual whiteness into blazing shades of oranges. It wasn't until the sun had finally set that she realized how much time she had wasted at the hospital once again.

"Oh my, will you look outside? It's gotten so dark." She changed his I.V once more before leaving his room. As she was about to close the door, she looked back and whispered, "Don't worry. I'll be back tomorrow."

The hospital was nearly cleaned out of people, except all who were already admitted. The night staff was always left nearly empty handed but not much danger occurred at night, so the patients were still left in good care. The nurse at the front desk wished her a good night on her way out, and Sakura started to make her way home before being ambushed by a familiar face.

"Sakura-san, headin' home so soon?"

"Hello, Naruto. Yeah, I just got done my shift." She lied. Her shift had ended hours ago, but she didn't want to tell him that she'd been spending the whole day with Sasuke again.

"You wanna get something to eat with the rest of us?" Naruto gestured to Kiba, Shikamaru, Ino, Sai, and Hinata.

She was going to decline his offer, but her stomach had betrayed her by growling at this time. Naruto chuckled and took that as an invitation. He grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her toward the gang that took their presence as a yes and started to proceed toward the usual restaurant. Sakura didn't protest his efforts since she was exhausted, but also because she tried to not push his kindness away. It was the least she could do, though it felt more out of pity. Whenever she tried to do something right, it would always feel wrong.

The gang had found a booth big enough for their party, and as soon as they sat down, the stories of the day's events started to pour from everyone. As conversation broke out, Sakura couldn't help but notice how closely Ino was sitting next to Sai and a particular conversation that followed the same observation.

"So Ino, you're getting awfully cozy with Sai there." Kiba teased.

"A-And what's it to y-you?" Ino stuttered as a blush started to rise to her cheeks.

"Are you running a fever?" Sai pressed his hand to Ino's and she smacked it away, quickly running the same hand through her hair nervously.

"I'm fine. Don't touch me, and Kiba," she glared at him, "shut it."

"Ooohoo, feisty." He flashed her a grin that looked more animalistic than normal.

"Sakura, you're growing your hair out?" Hinata piped up over all of the commotion to get her attention.

Sakura simply nodded. She had noticed that the Hyuuga had also changed since the end of the war. She was more social with everyone and even gained another rank. Hinata had also started to become close to Sakura, hoping that Naruto would notice her a little more, and though it hasn't quite shown, she knew that the Hyuuga wanted more female company besides training day in and day out with her father. Plus, her company was also good for Sakura since her female companions lacked in numbers and it was good to spend some time with women instead of men all day.

"It looks nice," Naruto commented—causing Hinata to go silent once again. Though those two sat right next to each other, it was as if Hinata didn't exist.

"Thank you, Naruto." She was too exhausted to push him away. Besides, accepting a compliment from a friend once in a while was okay.

"I say she should cut it." Ino butted in.

"And why's that?" Shikamaru finally took interest in what was going on.

"Because don't you see what it's doing to her?"

"It? Do you mean her hair?" Kiba asked, genuinely asking.

"Of course I mean her hair, you moron." Ino sighed. "When we were growing up, she grew her hair out and became a useless shinobi. As soon as she cut it, that significance seemed to transform her to perform better. Now that she's grown it out again, she's less enthusiastic and barely takes on any missions. If she wasn't working at the hospital, I would really start to worry about how she was making any income at all."

"Hair doesn't control my life, Ino. And by the way, I've been a bit too busy lately to take on any missions; so, if I was worrying you too much, I'm sorry. A grown woman can have more important problems than her hair." Sakura didn't know what had gotten into her. The words seemed to have rushed out before any second thought, but she didn't care. She was tired of everyone worrying about her. Her recent mood swing was her problem to deal with alone, and no one needed to waste any of their time caring for her.

Sakura looked around the table to see five stunned faces—all except Sai who seemed to wear the same emotionless mask as always. The food had arrived then and her sudden outburst seemed to have gotten rid of her interest in a meal, so she simply picked at it before shoving it aside. Both Naruto and Kiba didn't let the sudden tension ruin their appetite as the dug into their meals, but Ino shied away to the far corner of the booth. Hinata simply picked at her rice and some chicken while casting glances toward Naruto and his obnoxious eating habits, and Shikamaru kept a close eye on Sakura while taking in proper portions of his own food. Sai seemed oblivious to all of this.

As soon as she had enough of the awkward silence, Sakura decided to leave. She gave Hinata her share of what she owed and quickly left the restaurant. Though she wanted to get home as quickly as possible, her wish was soon discarded when she heard her name being called.

"Sakura! Wait up!"

When she turned around, she saw Shikamaru running to catch up with her._ If he really wanted to catch up to me, he'd run a bit faster_, she thought. It was true, though, because after all he was a shinobi.

"Shikamaru, I'm really tired, so if you have something to te—"

"That was the most energy you've used in a long time." He told her breathlessly. "I mean—Ino's sorry and she didn't mean what she said. She—of all people—knows best with what you're going through."

"It doesn't feel like that." Sakura muttered.

"But that's Ino for ya. She uses her harshness to tell you straightforward. Personally, I find it all troublesome, but what can you do?" He shrugged.

"Is that really why you came all the way out here?"

"Nah," he ran a hand through his hair, "just didn't want you walking home alone at this hour."

"That's kind of you, but I can handle myself. I'm still a shinobi after all." She tried to smile, hoping that he'd go away, but Shikamaru had a sort of stubbornness that seemed to mirror his mother's. "Fine. You can walk me home."

Sakura didn't even wait for him to reply before starting down the street again. The only way that she knew he was right behind her was the soft crunch of dirt underneath his feet. They were a couple of blocks away from the restaurant before Shikamaru started up the conversation again.

"There are ninja following us." He whispered under his breath. "Could you sense them?"

Honestly, she couldn't. Either they were really well at disguising their chakra or her friends were right. Sakura hadn't taken on a mission in six months, and now she was starting to realize that the lack of missions and training was starting to take effect. Hopefully, if this was to lead into conflict, her skills wouldn't be rusty like her senses.

"No," she answered.

He gave a slight nod in acknowledgment, "Follow me."

Without another word, he took off at nearly his top speed while Sakura tried to keep up. Her fear was realized as she struggled to keep her eyes on Shikamaru. Though maybe her actual skills weren't as bad as she thought. At the moment, she wasn't wearing her normal clothes so she was restricted to the tight material of her nurse's outfit and the poor condition of her shoes. Until she actually engaged in physical combat, she wouldn't truly know if she would have to schedule in some training time.

They were on the outskirts of town, now, and finally she was starting to sense the other shinobi's presence. There was only two of them and their current chakra levels were nothing to be afraid of. In fact, they felt more like Genin than anything threatening. The two groups met in a small clearing right outside of the village limits, though Shikamaru and Sakura were standing in the clearing while the other two ninja were hiding in the trees. Their element of surprise was already broken so there wasn't really any reason to hide.

"Show yourselves." Shikamaru demanded. It was times like these that reminded Sakura the reason why Shikamaru was given the title of Jounin He could be pretty intimidating when he wanted to be.

The shinobi complied to his demand and brought themselves forth. They were dressed in traditional black clothing with masks to hide their identity, so that no one could tell if they were male or female. Though her skills were fading, Sakura still had a trick or two up her sleeve. From the flow of chakra that they were letting loose, she knew that the one on the right was female and the one on the left was male because men tended to have wider chakra points while female shinobi had thinner points for easier control.

"State your business." He used his same demanding voice.

"The one called Uchiha." Said the female voice.

"We've come for him." The male finished.

Having them speak had confirmed Sakura's assumptions and proved that she wasn't that rusty. "What do you want with Sasuke?" She asked, but all she got was silence in return. "If you've come for revenge, you can forget about it. I'll just have to handle you like the last dozen assassins."

"No, let us speak with your Hokage." The woman demanded.

"Our Hokage doesn't want to speak with likes of you." Sakura said. Her anger was returning.

"We bring news of a cure." The male chimed.

And as quickly as her anger came, it vanished into thin air. After five years of waiting for Sasuke to wake up, someone was finally going to make her dreams come true. But that was all too convenient for her to handle. She kept thinking that this was a trap.

Shikamaru took notice of Sakura's hesitation and knew that she was only thinking of the negatives. He couldn't believe how much emotion Sakura was putting forth tonight and all over the subject of Uchiha Sasuke. Well, if she wasn't going to believe them, then he would. They bring forth a cure for a lost friend, and of course he would do everything in his power to help even if it was very bothersome.

"Fine, but remove your masks, state your name, and business." He caved in, but his voice didn't show it.

The masked figures agreed to his terms and reveled their faces. The woman had snow white hair that pinned up to mask its true length. Her dazzling violet eyes were visible even from the distance that they put themselves—giving her a mystical look about her that entranced even Sakura. The man was the exact opposite of the woman as he had black hair that camouflaged with the night sky and his eyes were as bright and golden as the stars above. The man was also taller than the woman, but from the earlier authoritative sound from the woman's voice, it appeared that she was in charge and the man would be more docile.

"I'm Sintessa Mai." The woman piped up.

"And I'm Katorabe Ziom."

"We come from a small village west from here. Tsunade-sama has requested my clan's specialty in order to revive Uchiha Sasuke. Though my lady is very skilled in medicine, there is one thing that she couldn't do because of her heritage so therefore she has requested us." Mai took a step forward. "I apologize on behalf of my entire clan for the delay in our response, but because of the war...Our village was caught in the middle of it all and experienced too many casualties to count. It has taken us awhile to even start from scratch."

"I'm so sorry." Sakura muttered.

"Never mind that." Ziom had closed the large gap between the two groups with Mai following his lead. "There is a patient that needs to be attended to. Please, take us to Tsunade-sama." He urged.

"R-Right," Sakura didn't even wait for Shikamaru's opinion as she headed back into the village. She could sense his chakra bringing up the rear right behind Mai, and so she pushed herself as fast as she could go.

Having the streets deserted at this time of night was perfect so that there would be no need of delay to get to Tsunade's office. She knew that her Lady wasn't going to be in at this hour—unless she was behind on her paperwork again—but there was a way to page her. Plus, if it came to paging her, she wouldn't be held at fault for waking her because she had requested these people in the first place.

They reached the Hokage's building in no time, and thankfully, the lights were on. Instead of using stairs like normal people, Sakura jumped through one of the already open windows, which was more like something Naruto would do. This act was soon followed by three more people and it had startled an already drowsy Tsunade.

"What in the blazes? Sakura, what are you doing here at this hour?" She demanded.

A bit out of breath from lack of training, Sakura responded, "Tsunade-sama, these ninja say that they have business with you."

"Hokage-sama, I am Sintessa Mai from Medikusu Village and you have requested our medical services nearly five years ago. On behalf of my entire village and clan, I am sincerely sorry for the long delay, but I believe that our village elder has sent you a message explaining why." Mai spoke up as the one in charge of their mission.

"Ah, yes. Your elder said you'd be arriving in a couple of days." Tsunade bit down on her thumb as she lost herself in thought. "Sakura, go down to the hospital and prepare our patient. I'm sure these two have told you who that is."

"Right." Sakura exited the way she entered and headed for the hospital without another glance back.

Her heart was racing in her chest as the night wind whipped her hair about while moving from rooftop to rooftop. She didn't want to be uncivilized so she entered the hospital through the main entrance but disregarded the nurse at the check in station. To her, there was only one thing on her mind and that was at the end of the next hall. Though she knew her speed could continue, her legs seemed to slow down the closer she got to his room and her breathing started to pick up. She had her hand on the knob of his door and hesitated. _What if he wakes up and hasn't changed at all?_ she thought.

Though her mind was thinking negatively, she knew in her heart that she would never truly know if she didn't see him now. Hopefully, her conversations had gotten through his dreams. She lightly opened his door and saw that his room was completely covered by the darkness of night. Only a sliver of moonlight seeped through the windows as the clouds cleared. The sliver was cast over his face, making his skin look awfully pale in the light.

"Sasuke, it's me." She whispered, hoping to get one last conversation in before he woke up and would leave her forever. "You're going to finally wake up today, so I just wanted some alone time before that happened."

The chair she had sat in earlier was still pulled up by his bedside, so she decided to sit down. It was going to feel like forever until the shinobi came, so why not make herself comfortable? Sakura sat down and brushed his hair off his forehead. She realized that not only has her hair grown, but so has his and he needed a haircut badly. This thought brought a smile to her face.

"I don't think we'll ever have a chance like this again. You know, it's been nice talking to you like this without any interruption. You've helped me clear my mind for these past five years. And not only that, but you've helped me come to an important realization." She paused as a painful memory came back to her. "I know I've told you this in the past, but things have changed since then. Well, except for one thing." She smiled.

It was on a night like this that Sasuke had left the village. She had caught up to him before he left, and at the time, she didn't know what to do in order to make him stay—though nothing would really make him stay. But she had to try. So, she told him how much he meant to her and that she loved him, but that still wasn't good enough. Sakura had tried to convince herself that he was too stuck on revenge that he might've not heard her clear enough, so she was going to hope that this was the right time.

"Sasuke," she could feel a sob start to erupt in her chest as it tried to claw its way out of her, "I love you. I love you so much that it hurts me and all of our friends. Everyday I hope that you'd wake up and greet me with open arms, but I know that that's never going to happen. All of this waiting has caused me to close myself off from our friends, and now I don't think they'll ever forgive me. After you're gone, I don't know what I'll do."

Tears started to make trails down her cheeks as she broke off into sobs. Thankfully, he wasn't awake to see her like this because this was a sign of weakness. She had gotten rid of her weakness a long time ago, and now it was coming back to haunt her. Sakura knew she was a strong kunoichi and she also knew that Sasuke didn't know that. He hadn't been there to see her grow out of her shell, and that was the one thing she wanted him to see from her; how much she had changed.

"I'm not weak, just so you know, but I am still a woman. Everyday we have to be strong so that no one can see us cry, but sometimes it's so hard to hold in so many emotions. And lately, I've been wanting to empty my bottle of emotions but I didn't know how, where, or when to do it. So, now the bottle has exploded without my input. Please understand that I am strong." She tightened her grip on his hand and with her free hand wiped away her falling tears.

As hard as she tried, she couldn't wipe away the tears fast enough. A couple of droplets had fallen onto his face, ran off his cheeks, and fallen onto his pillow. She didn't want him to see her crying—though he was still unconscious—so she placed her head on his chest and buried her face with her arms. The soft rise and fall of his breathing was enough to silent her sobs into little gasps of air. Time seemed to slow down as she felt the exhaustion of the day start to wear on her. Now the room was filled with nothing but silence and the soft hum of the machines.

"Sakura..."

She didn't lift her head because she knew that it was Shikamaru waiting in the doorway. It was time to leave him and perhaps never see him again. Giving one last sigh, she left a kiss on Sasuke's forehead and turned around, ready to leave. As soon as she turned around, though, she saw that there was no one there. She looked all around the room and saw that it was still empty except for her and Sasuke.

"Sakura...?"

She turned back around to see Sasuke still laying in bed, but there was something different about him. His eyes were half open and he looked dazed. He turned his head so that he was looking toward the door and her. Sakura was frozen in place and it was as if time had stopped altogether.

"Sas...uke...kun?" Being completely stunned, she couldn't stand any longer and ended up falling back down into her chair.

He slowly moved to prop himself up on one arm. "What am I...doing here?"

"Y-You don't remember anything?" Her heart had dropped a few flights, but it didn't stop its racing pulse.

Sasuke closed his eyes in concentration. "Naruto and I...fought, right?"

She nodded.

"Who won?" His eyes were like two dark stones of coal as they burned their way into Sakura's emerald green ones.

She knew the outcome, but she couldn't say who won or lost because both Naruto and Sasuke had ended up in comas—though Naruto's only lasted a few days. If she had to say that someone won, it would be Naruto because he had gotten the one person, who meant a great deal to him, back and earned the respect of everyone around him while Sasuke had lost his consciousness for five years.

"Neither of you won."

"What do you mean?"

"Both you and Naruto lost consciousness with the last blow." She explained. Sakura didn't want him to ask the next obvious question.

Sasuke looked around the room and noticed that he was all alone. "Then where is he?"

Involuntarily, she winced at the question. "He's healed."

He looked at himself and saw that there were no bandages on him, but there were machines still hooked up to him. "And so am I. How long have I been out?"

She didn't want to tell him, but he was going to find out sooner or later. So why not tell him sooner than later? "You've been unconscious...for five years."

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><p>Okay, I just wanted to clear something up. There will not be any ShikaSaku love. He had just sensed the ninjas before her and was worried that because of her lack of missions and training she wouldn't be able to recognize them before it was too late. So, he decided to make sure that she would get home safely, though she never got home at all.<p>

I hope you guys enjoy my story so far and please review!


	2. Cold Eyes

Cold Eyes

He didn't say anything after that. Simply, he laid back down and threw his arm over his eyes as his breathing was the only sound in the room. Sakura stayed completely silent as the seconds turned into minutes and the minutes felt like hours. Any second, she was waiting for the door to open with the two ninja from Medikusu and Shikamaru leading the way, but at the moment, she simply waited for him to say something or make a move. He remained silent.

"Sasuke...?" She hesitated, not knowing what to do or say in this sort of situation. "How're you feeling?" At least she could stick to the medical basis of things.

"How do you think I'm feeling?" He responded, but his arm never moved from his face.

"Medically speaking, you're in perfect health, but I'm worried about mentally." Again, she waited for him to say something in this delicate situation, but he remained silent. "If it was me, I would want to know how everyone else was doing."

"And what makes you think that I would think the same thing?"

"Because deep down, you still care for us. You won't show it, but you still love your comrades." The words came out on their own accord, and she felt as though she crossed a line.

"How would you know that?"

"I don't know." She paused as a sudden flare of anger boiled inside and took over her mouth, "How would I know the answers? I wasn't gone for three years, then tried to take my revenge on my comrades, nearly killed Naruto, or landed in a coma for another five years! I never made my comrades run to far distances just to see me killing other people! I would never hurt the one person that I loved!"

She had somehow ended up standing out of her chair with her chakra pulsating from her fist. It was as if her body planned to pummel him out of anger, frustration, joy, sadness, and the strangest feeling of all...love. Everything was happening so fast that she didn't have time to think about anything else.

Though Sakura was expecting him to react to her words, he did the opposite and continued to remain silent—only adding to her already boiling anger. "Why won't you say something?" She nearly screamed.

"Because there's nothing to say." He answered.

"Nothing? Nothing at all?"

"What do you want me to say? That I'm sorry or I'll come back to Konoha?" He threw his arm off of his face and looked her directly in the eyes. "Even if I said all of that, there's no way in hell that they'd welcome me back with open arms, Sakura. I'm a traitor and a killer, and neither of those things are exactly praised in Konoha's book."

His words felt as though he had slapped her personally. It was a strange feeling of guilt and hurt, but even so, she could sense something that was hidden under what he said. A part of her kept calling out that he wanted to come back...to come home. She sat back down in the chair, closed her eyes, ran a hand through her hair, and opened them again before seeing his face closer to hers again as he re-propped himself on his elbow.

"Sasuke...do you even want to come home?" Sakura had regained herself from her furious outcry, of which hadn't happened for a very long time.

His eyes looked away then, and that was a sure sign of a confirmation. Her heart skipped a beat as she came to that conclusion. If she could get Tsunade-sama to agree to a pardon or some sort of probation, then maybe he really could stay in the village. He would be able to live a normal life.

"If I could arrange a warm welcome, would you stay in the village this time?"

Something flashed across his eyes and he was about to say something, but the door had opened and caused him to remain silent. Sakura turned around in her seat and saw that it was the two ninja from earlier with Shikamaru bringing up the rear. They all stopped in their tracks, leaving little room between them and the door. Their stunned expressions had only lasted a few seconds as Tsunade entered right behind them.

"I had no idea that your abilities worked this fast." Tsunade said with satisfaction coated in her voice. She was utterly impressed that Sasuke had awaken so fast.

"Um, no, my Lady. We had just arrived." Ziom told her.

"Sakura, was this your doing?" She asked.

"No, Tsunade-sama." Sakura looked between her and Sasuke, desperately wanting to hear his answer.

Tsunade crossed her arms over her chest as she looked at the once unconscious ninja. "Well, then. Sakura, you may leave."

Her heart nearly burst from her chest at her former master's words. She couldn't leave now, especially since she wasn't done speaking with him. There were so many things she hadn't told him yet, but she knew that she couldn't go against her Hokage's wishes. She nodded, got up from her seat, and shot one last look at Sasuke before walking past Tsunade and the others.

It was well into the middle of the night as she made her way back to her apartment. The moon was out and full as she walked down the deserted road. Clouds would pass over the natural light every now and then and she realized that it was taking her a long time getting home. Maybe it was a sign from her legs saying that she shouldn't have left or it could've been because she was exhausted after the day's events. In about twenty-four hours, she had seen the man that she loved go from being in a state of incoherent dreams to awake and talkative.

But there was nothing else that she could do. She couldn't go against her Hokage, but every fiber in her being wanted her to. There was a difference between defying your superior for someone you loved and nearly getting yourself thrown out of the village for someone who wouldn't do the same for you. Though, why was her mind flashing back to that room? He was going to say something, but it could've been anything. But yet, there was no reason not to think that he wanted to return. Maybe he had heard her conversations while he was unconscious and realized how much he was missed and loved.

Without her realizing it, she hadn't reached her home but ended up right back at the hospital. She hesitated at the entrance, not knowing what to do, but her thinking was soon decided for her as she heard footsteps coming from inside. Quickly, she hid behind a tree that was across the way and listened intently on what they were saying.

"I heard he finally woke up." It was a female nurse. There wasn't much of a threat at being caught now.

"Yeah, and he's being interrogated already. That poor man." Another nurse commented.

"They should at least give him some time to recover mentally because if I was to be in a coma for five years and then wake up with a bunch of people staring at me, I'd be really pissed."

'So they were interrogating him already?' she thought. As the nurses got out of earshot, Sakura decided that it was safe to enter the hospital. She was on high alert, though there was no sounds of others lurking the halls. As she approached his room, she saw that his door was ajar and heard voices speaking on the other side.

"Sasuke, you do understand what kind of situation you're in, don't you?" It was Tsunade's voice.

He didn't respond, but Sakura predicted that he either nodded or rolled his eyes.

"I can't do much to change the elders minds at the moment, so I don't have much of a choice. I'm going to have to take you into custody and you'll have to wait for a trial—"

Sakura silently gasped as her worst fears were coming true.

"—but if you cause any trouble, I will really have no choice but to cut you down where you stand, do you understand?"

"I understand." His voice was barely a whisper.

"Right. Shikamaru?"

There was shuffling of feet, and Sakura knew she had to get out of the hallway so that she wouldn't be spotted. She retraced her steps down the hall and ducked into a patient's room while she saw Tsunade walk by with the two foreign ninjas followed by Sasuke and Shikamaru. Sasuke was still dressed in his sleeping clothes, a light gray t-shirt and matching sweatpants, and as he walked by she could see that his skin was paler than earlier and there were heavy, dark purple circles underneath his eyes. It was as though he hadn't slept in weeks, which should've been just the opposite.

As soon as they were out of sight, Sakura released the breath she'd been holding in and slunk down to the floor, bringing her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. She rested her head against her legs as she let the tears escaped. There really was no worry about crying in this patient's room because he was another coma patient who had recently entered the hospital. She felt ridiculous because this had been the second time she'd cried tonight, and that wasn't like her to do so. As the tears ran dry, she found that she couldn't move and ended up falling unconscious right there on the floor all wrapped up in her emotions.

* * *

><p>"Sakura?"<p>

Someone was shaking her.

"Sakura, wake up."

She slowly opened her eyes to the blinding light of the new dawn. Apparently, she had fallen asleep on the hospital room floor, and now another nurse must've found her pathetic state. No, not any other nurse. This nurse was a medical ninja whom Sakura had known since the war.

"Yuki?" Sakura said groggily.

Yuki smiled at her as she held her hand out for her to take. Sakura took the hand gratefully and got to her feet, feeling the stiffness of the night. She returned Yuki's smile with one of her own. "Thank you, Yuki."

"No problem. But if I may ask, why were you sleeping on the floor?"

She didn't know if she wanted to tell her friend the entire truth, but if it was morning already, the whole hospital must've known by now that Sasuke had awaken. So, she decided that she could trust her and explained the whole thing. Yuki simply nodded and remained silent as Sakura finished up her story.

"Oh, Sakura!" The other woman held her arms out, so Sakura returned with a hug. The embrace felt comforting for her. Yuki pulled away first. "If you ever need a shoulder to cry on, I'll be right here. Okay, senpai?"

"Thank you again, Yuki." She muttered.

The medical ninja smiled. Her usually pin-straight, red hair was tied back today into a bun, and she wasn't wearing her usual clothes either. Instead, she had on a nurse's outfit that gave her a more motherly look than normal. Also, her jade green eyes sparkled a bit more than normal.

"Um, Yuki? Why are you dressed like that?" She asked.

"Oh, this?" Her smile seemed to widen at Sakura's notice. "I got transferred, so now I'll be working here full time. Isn't that great?"

Though the two girls just had a moment, Yuki working at the hospital wasn't a good sign at all. In fact, it surprised Sakura that she was given the promotion. She was such a clumsy person and her personality wasn't all that stable either. Yuki was known to have low self esteem which effected her decsion making during crucial times, but she wasn't bad. Actually, Sakura had trained the woman herself and was surprised that she learned so fast. Her healing skills were very impressive. It was that Yuki herself was the problem.

"That's...wonderful." Sakura tried to give her a smile but it came out a bit crooked. Yuki didn't seem to notice though, so that benefited the pink haired kunoichi.

Since she was already at the hospital, Sakura figured that it wouldn't hurt to put in some over time as she made a few rounds. It was like any other day except when it came time to end her normal rounds. She felt a pang in her heart as she realized that she wouldn't be going into the room at the end of the hall. It was as if the entire hospital went cold. A shiver ran up her spine, and she had a sudden urge to run out of the hospital. But Sakura knew that she had a duty to uphold here. There were people here who needed her help at the moment, so she would have to suck up whatever feelings she had.

The day had gone longer than she would've liked, but her sense of time was also getting a bit fuzzy since last night. The same image wouldn't leave her mind all day, nearly causing her to inject the wrong medicine into the wrong patient. Sasuke's face looked troubled when he was in custody and as though he had aged very suddenly in the short amount of time that she had left him. But then another image would flood her thoughts. His eyes had shown a flicker of emotion when she had asked him if he wanted to stay. It looked like a new flame of passion had erupted in his very being and it wasn't a dark flame like the last time when he had left. No, it was a genuine light that kept troubling her even now as she walked the streets to head home.

Though like last night, she didn't head home. Instead, Sakura found herself walking towards Tsunade's office. Even though she had noticed beforehand, it still didn't stop her legs from moving forward. So as she continued forward, she tried to think of what to say to the Hokage but nothing came to her. And now as she continued to think, she found herself knocking on the door to her office and heard her former master's invitation to come inside. She slowly entered and waited for Tsunade to lift her head.

"Sakura? What's the matter?" Tsunade asked.

She only stood there, trying to think of the words to say.

"Are you alright?"

Sakura clenched her fists as the words started to flood from her mouth, "Where did you take Sasuke?"

"Pardon? I don't believe you need to be worried."

"But that's the thing, Tsunade-sama. I _am_ worried. I can't sleep, I can't eat, and I can barely perform well at the hospital. Maybe if you tell me what's going on, I can rest better?" She was on the verge of tears, but she had enough of crying for one lifetime.

Tsunade let out a soft sigh as she folded her hands to hide her face. "Sakura, that's private info—"

"No, it's not." She interrupted. "I already know that Naruto's come in and demanded the exact same thing that I'm doing right now. And I also know that you gave in and told him, so why won't you tell me?"

A smirk seeped through the Hokage's fingers as she closed her eyes. "You're right. Naruto did stop by earlier, but that doesn't mean I told him anything."

"I don't believe you." She muttered.

"It's true. He has no idea that Sasuke has woken up, and it will remain that way." Tsunade's stare was very intense whenever she was serious...like now.

"Tsunade-sama, please! You can't keep this from either of us, especially Naruto! He spent the best years of his life searching for Sasuke and even risked his life more times than I can count! So, if you tell him, you have to tell me."

"Sakura, you're acting childish. This is a serious matter and it doesn't concern you."

"Childish! I am not a child! In fact, I'm far from it. We didn't have children fighting in the war and risking their lives. So, if I was truly a child, then you wouldn't have let me fight for the good of the ninja world. I want the truth!" She nearly screamed. Her anger was starting to take over and instead of acting as if in the presence of her Hokage, it was more like she was throwing a tantrum in front of her mother.

"Get a hold of yourself! Do I need to remind you that I am your Hokage?" Tsunade matched Sakura's pitch and volume.

Sakura flinched. It wasn't as if she had completely forgotten the difference in rank between the two of them, but the fact had slipped her mind for only a second. "I'm sorry, Tsunade-sama." She muttered. "I just feel as if you're hiding something from me. But I don't care if it hurts me. I want to know because it pains me that I _don't_ know."

The older woman let out a long and tired sigh. "Sakura, I remember how it feels to be in love."

Sakura gasped just a bit at her comment. _Was it really that plainly written across my face_? she thought.

"It's painful not knowing what's happening to the one that means most to you, but that doesn't mean I can give you classified information. I will promise you, though, that there hasn't been a decsion about his fate yet."

"So...they didn't do anything to him yet?" She asked hopefully.

"No, except place him in solitary confinement." Tsunade mumbled and quickly realized that she let a piece of information escape.

"They did what?" Sakura was horrified and relieved at the same time. She was relieved that he was safe at the moment, but yet he was left alone in an isolation cell. The last thing he needed was more time to be alone.

She rushed out of the Hokage's office as fast as she could and made her way out of the building altogether.

"Tsunade-sama!" Shizune rushed into the office as soon as Sakura had left. She held Ton Ton in her arms as she panted heavily. "Sakura just—"

"I know." The older woman smirked.

"You know?"

"Yep. I just told her."

"You did what? But my Lady—"

"Don't worry about it, Shizune." She let her smile widen.

"But my Lady, wasn't it bad enough that you let the same thing slip with Naruto?"

* * *

><p>Even though Sakura wanted to rush right to the prison where they held Sasuke, she knew she couldn't show up in her messy look. So, in a matter of seconds, she managed to get to her apartment, change, and pull her hair up as she took off once more. This time, though, she was in search of Naruto. If Tsunade truly didn't tell him what she let slip with her, then she had an obligation to tell him. It was the only right thing to do.<p>

She flitted from building to building in search of the rambunctious ninja, but there was no sign of him at any of his usual spots. She had checked Ichiraku's ramen shop, the usual training grounds right outside of the village, and even the top of the Kage's heads. He was nowhere to been found, and as much as she felt obligated to tell him, she couldn't keep searching any longer. Sakura started to head for the prison that wasn't far from the village.

It was late in the afternoon when she arrived at the prison, and though she knew that the sun was still out, the dark smoke that loomed overhead made it appear as night instead of day. She approached the facility with caution even though there was plenty of protection for visitors. The place gave her chills down her spine and as she approached the large wrought iron door, she noticed a familiar figure banging on the outside.

"Naruto!" She cried out, it was more out of relief than joy.

He turned around at the sound of his name, and she hurried along to catch up to him. He was wearing faded green t-shirt with the Uzumaki emblem on the front and dirtied khaki shorts that cut right below the knee. His face was also dirtied as if he had fallen on the ground at some point, and she could've sworn that there were bruises under his eyes. But even though he looked beat up, he still gave her a smile as she came into hearing distance.

"Sakura-chan, you made it." He sounded tired and relieved.

"Naruto, are you alright?" His dirtied outlook gave her some concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine. But these bastards won't let me in!" He raised his voice in hopes that the guards would hear him. "So I'm guessing granny told you that Sasuke woke up?"

"Uh...yeah." She didn't want to tell him that she was the one who was there when he woke up. Not yet at least.

"You came here to see him, huh?" He sighed and turned around to continuing banging on the doors. "Let us in, you bastards! We have every right to see him!" He shouted.

Sakura knew that he would react this way, and though she knew, it was hard seeing him take this kind of pain. It was hard being this close to Naruto right now because it felt as though she was betraying in some way that she couldn't explain.

"Naruto, let me." She brushed him aside and reached for the intercom. Holding the button down, she started to speak into the monitor, "I was sent by the Hokage."

"Do you have an appointment?" It was a gruff voice on the other end that sounded as if he'd been eating while he spoke. Everything came out mumbled.

"No, but this is an emergency. There was no time to schedule or go through proper protocol." She lied and hoped that it would work. Naruto just watched her with wide eyes.

"I can't let you in without an appointment."

"Listen here, sir. If you don't open up these doors then I'll have no choice but to knock them down, so I would appreciate it if you would do me this favor." She threatened now. This threat, though, was no bluff and Naruto knew that so he started to slowly slink away from her as the silence continued on the other line.

"I still can't let you in, missy."

That was the last straw. She clenched her fist and concentrated her chakra into one fist. Reeling her arm back, she prepared to strike as the chakra started to build up in her fist. Naruto recognized the stance and ran down the stairs to get far enough away from any debris that would scatter. The motion was all very fast as her fist connected with the iron of the door. A large dent opened up, but the door still held its ground. Naruto was about yell out some profanities for the guards once again, but she simply stuck her finger up to stop him. With one light touch of her finger, the door fell backward into the prison, and Sakura motioned for Naruto to follow her.

Before entering, Naruto couldn't resist teasing the guard. "She warned you, bastard."

There weren't any alarms as they made their way into the heart of the prison. Sakura was leading the way since she knew more about the facility than Naruto. So, after climbing several flights of stairs and rounding more than a dozen corners, they had finally hit the section of the prison where they contained all the high classed ninja like Sasuke. These cells were closed off so no one could peer inside without removing a sheet of metal just big enough for eyes to peer in, which silenced all the rude and perverted comments from the prisoners.

Both Sakura and Naruto searched each cell looking for Sasuke. All of the cells were dark inside so it took a few minutes per cell to check if he was in one, and after what felt like hours, Sakura was finally at the end of the line of criminals. Naruto was still behind searching the cells on the other side, but as Sakura opened up the eye patch to peer inside, she felt confident that this was his cell. It was dark inside the cell like every one before him and so she had to concentrate extra hard. There was a figure inside who was only wearing sweatpants as his arms were bound with scrolls, and he lay on his bed just staring at the wall. His back was to her and she could see that there was something inscribed on him that looked like seal.

"Sasuke?" She whispered and the figured stirred. "Naruto! Think I found him!" She called for the blonde haired ninja.

"Sasuke!" He called as he ran over, and Sakura peered back inside to see that figure had turned over and she could make out cold, black eyes.

They were the same eyes that had chased her in her dreams, and now they were staring at her once again. There was pain and sorrow trapped behind those eyes again, and it was as if there was never a spark in them like last night. It was a depressing sight and he only continued to stare at her.

"Sasuke," she muttered.

"Where is he?" Naruto was right beside her now, and so she moved aside to let him look inside. "Bastard," he cussed under his breath. "You look so pathetic right now."

"You're no different, dobe." Sasuke muttered. He sounded tired and dry. "How'd you end up like that, so full of filth."

"S'none of your business."

Sasuke gave a light smirk at the comment and went back to laying down in his cot. "Go away."

"As if. I ain't going anywhere." He slunk down and sat at cell's entrance with his arms crossed over his chest. He looked so young as he sat there and pouted.

Sakura took over the peek hole and looked inside. Just seeing him made her heart ache. She was relieved to see him again, but seeing him in this state was harder than seeing him in a coma. "Sasuke," she mumbled his name. "You never answered my question."

Naruto's head perked up at that, but he remained silent just like Sasuke.

"If you give me your honest answer, I'll leave and I won't bother you." As much as it hurt her to say that, she would keep the promise if that's what he wanted.

"My honest answer?" He huffed.

"Yes, and I won't bother you ever again. I promise."

"Don't make such a ridiculous promise. Even you know you won't keep it."

Somewhere deep down, she knew that he was speaking the truth. She could say she would keep her promise, but in her heart the promise wouldn't hold any meaning. It would only be an matter of time before she would betray that promise just to sneak a peek at him or just to hear his voice again. "I don't care. I would lock myself up just to keep that promise...if it was for you, Sasuke."

Naruto made a disgusted sound and Sakura lightly kicked him to shut him up while she waited for Sasuke's response.

"You would do that...just for one answer? And how would you know that it was honest?"

"It's been five years since the last time you've actually seen me, Sasuke. I've changed and grown stronger. I can tell if you're lying or not." It was a small white lie. She could tell if someone was lying by their chakra flow, but at the moment, she couldn't detect any chakra flow from him. Hopefully, whatever he says will be the truth.

"You're a sensor now?" He smirked. "Fine. I'll tell you."

Her heart started to pick up its pace as it thundered in her ears.

"Yes." Though it was one word, it contained a thousand meanings.

* * *

><p>I hoped that you enjoyed this chapter. Don't worry. This story wasn't classified as an angst so it won't be one, but I can't just say that Sasuke came back all welcomed and all, so it might feel a bit angsty for a while. Have faith, though, because I'm also sick and tired of writing depressing stuff.<p>

I introduced one of my OC's, Yuki and if you want to see some of her bio go to my deviantart page here: .com/art/The-Next-Step-2-214772173 and scroll all the way down to Artist's comments.

Just wanted to give some hope in the end, and I hope that you'll review 'cause the more reviews that I get, the more inspiration I get. I feel all good about my writing and I feel the urge to keep writing. Maybe that's why some of my other stories are left unfinished...Anyways, I hope you liked it and I'll try to update soon!


	3. Nothing Goes as Planned

Nothing Goes as Planned

Sakura slumped to her knees and held her hands in her head. Naruto got on his knees and hunched over her, not sure if he should hug her or back away. He didn't know what was going on, but if he only knew, he would probably be doing the same thing. Her entire body began to shake as the silent sobs erupted from her chest. She made sure that not a single tear or sound would escape and her efforts remained strong until Naruto decided to embrace her. With his strong arms around her, she felt comfortable enough to release the tears, but that's all that escaped.

He patted her hair as he tried to soothe her crying, but that was getting them nowhere. But as her tears started to slow down, the alarms finally sounded—startling both shinobi. "Crap. Come on, Sakura. We gotta get outta here." He told her and pulled her onto her feet. Before leaving, he stuck his mouth close to the peek hole and said, "We'll be back, Sasuke, so don't you disappear on us again."

"Like I'm going anywhere, dobe." Sasuke muttered.

Naruto had to drag Sakura along in order to get out of the hall, but even then the prison guards seemed ot catch up with him. If he was alone, this wouldn't be much of a challenge, but he wasn't alone and that was what was bothering him. Sakura had completely shut down and wasn't responding to anything he said. It appeared that she didn't even know what going on right now.

"Sakura, snap out of it. We have to go." He tried calling to her again, but she was still unresponsive. Deciding that it was going to get rough if he didn't get out of there immediately, he went against her will and pulled her into his arms. Now off of her feet, he felt that he would easily out run the guards now. "Hold on tight." He told her.

He weaved around the corners, dodged grabbing guards, and jumped down several flights of stairs, but all the while he was enjoying himself. His last mission was a simple bodyguard job, and there wasn't much to do. At least this was giving him the entertainment that he had missed. The sound of kunai being thrown in the air and the roar of the guards' battle cry sent adrenaline coursing through his veins. It was such a rush flying through the prison, but soon his fun would be over since he could see the imploded door that Sakura had caused.

"Sorry to end the game short, guys. Maybe I'll come back and play!" He shouted behind him as he picked up his speed, but he had to cut his speed short because of a surprise appearance by a rather large prison guard. "Oh, so there's one final round, eh?"

"Naruto...what's going on?" Sakura was barely a whisper, but it seemed that she was responsive once again.

"Perfect timing. Hey, Sakura-chan, do you think you could help me out?" Naruto set her down and she seemed stable enough to stand on her feet.

She slowly raised her eyes to see the large, scarred face prison guard leering down at her. It was clear that he'd seen many dangerous criminals in his time not only by his deformed body but by the look in his eyes. She knew that Naruto could take this guy no problem, but she also knew why he had asked her to take care of him for him. He didn't want to hurt him, and if she was to take the ground from under his feet, it would save this guard from any real pain.

"Right," she muttered as she prepared to strike the ground. The wind up to build up her chakra wasn't that long this time and only a few seconds passed before she hit the ground. The whole building shook as the ground was ripped up and threw the guard several feet into the air, which gave them the cue to high tail it out of there.

"Awesome hit, Sakura-chan." He complimented her as they ran through the surrounding forest.

"Naruto, what's going on? What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything! That bastard must've sounded the alarms on us."

"But why would he wait so long to sound them?" She muttered mostly to herself but Naruto had overheard her.

"I don't know, but I'm sure as hell ain't gonna forget this." He grumbled.

"Don't worry about it. As soon as we get back, I'm going to speak with Tsunade-sama." Sakura felt a strong sense of giddy flow through her as she remembered what Sasuke had told her. He wanted to come back to Konoha and that was the only thing on her mind.

"Oh, yeah, that reminds me. What happened back there, Sakura-chan? You just went completely unresponsive." He asked.

"I have to confess something to you, Naruto. When Sasuke woke up, I was there. I had talked to him before they arrested him, and I had asked him a very important question."

"What was it?"

She could tell that he was getting nervous about what the question was, but he didn't have to be wary. It was only a matter of time before he felt the same way she did. "I asked him if he wanted to return to Konoha."

His eyes widened and they both stopped on one of the trees' branches. His jaw was dropped and she could've sworn that he was about to cry, but then his expression changed to sadness. It was only a brief change before he gave her the widest grin ever. She knew he felt upset that if Sasuke was coming back that she wouldn't pay him much attention anymore, but Sakura would never stop loving Naruto as a brother. After all the hell that they've been through, she could never stop worrying about her comrade, no matter what happened between them.

"Well, what are we waiting for? We have to tell granny Tsunade!"

The way back to the village seemed like less time than heading to the prison. Maybe it was because both of them felt happy and relieved that their long awaited friend was finally returning to their village, or maybe it was because their path was actually shorter than the way up there. Sakura was tired, though, by the time they made it back but that didn't stop her from going straight to the Hokage's building. Naruto was with her the entire way there, and this was the first time he remained so quiet.

They ran past Shizune and didn't even bother to knock on Tsunade's door before going in. The woman was a bit surprised to see them since she nearly jumped out her seat, but at the same time, she had been expecting both of them. She motioned for them to approach as Shizune came barging in after them.

"My Lady—"

"I already know, Shizune. You may go." Tsunade waved her assistant away. Shizune was wary to leave, but didn't go against her Hokage's orders. "Now, what can I do for you two?" She asked with her hands folded in front of her face.

Sakura was out of breath, but that didn't stop Naruto for speaking for her. "Granny, you have to accept Sasuke back into the village." He told her.

"And why should I? He's a criminal and criminals don't deserve second chances. Besides, you and I both know that he doesn't want to come back. He wants to destroy the village instead."

"But you're wrong! He doesn't want to do that anymore!" Sakura told her.

"He told you that he wants to come back that he would do anything to come back, right? Uchiha Sasuke is a manipulator who is only interested in achieving his own goals. As long as he continues to stay in that prison, he is of no threat to us."

"Sasuke doesn't pose as a threat anymore, granny. His fighting spirit is crushed. I can tell." Naruto saddened a bit after saying that but quickly regained himself back in his fierceness. "Plus, I can stop him now! If anything happened that would tell me he would betray us, I would stop him again. I wouldn't hesitate to do it."

"I still can't do that, Naruto. I have to keep the safety of the village in mind when making decisions like this, and if you want Sasuke to remain alive then you should just let him be where he is. There is nothing more that I can do."

"That's bull." He muttered.

"Naruto!" Sakura gasped. "I'm sure what Tsunade-sama is saying is true. She has to take the village's priorities over our own."

"No, that's truly bullshit. It's just an excuse to hide behind." He crossed his arms over his chest. "I bet that it's all because of those elders. They have it out for the Uchiha clan, don't they?"

"Whether they have it out for the clan isn't relevant. Naruto, you want to become the Hokage so bad, right? Well, you'll have to take their advice, and when I mean you have to take their advice I mean that their word is almost absolute." She explained.

"I don't care what some decrepit old geezer has to say. I know what's right for this village, and I trust the people do to. I would choose to give my friend a second chance."

Tsunade sighed, trying to ease the anger that was boiling inside, "You can't just ignore the elders, Naruto. And I understand that you want to trust your friends that much, but you don't understand."

"Then bring the elders here. I'll deal with them one way or another!"

"Naruto! Stop it...just stop." Sakura had wrapped her arms around herself to try and keep herself from falling apart, and her knees started to buckle, showing signs of failing.

"Sakura-chan...?" Naruto wanted to approach her but for the second time that day, he didn't know what to do. His azure blue eyes were wide with concern for her well being.

"The village isn't going to accept him..." She was talking more to herself, but since she was talking aloud, both Naruto and Tsunade heard her. "Plus, I wouldn't be able to see him any way. I promised never to bother him again."

"What's going on?" Tsunade asked.

Naruto looked between the two kunoichis and saw that he didn't want to talk to either of them. Tsunade looked as if she was going to hurt someone and Sakura was losing her sanity. So, he saw that it wasn't the perfect time to be in either of their line of fire. "Um, well..." he sighed and decided to tell her everything that happened at the prison, leaving out the part about knocking the door down, sounding off the alarms, and taking out the large prison guard. "...and that's why we're here."

Sakura had gone completely silent during Naruto's "detailed" explanation and was now sitting on the windowsill, looking out to the setting sun across the village.

"By the way," he started, "Sasuke was wearing some weird looking seals on his body. Do you know what they were for?"

Sakura's ears perked up at this part of the conversation as she waited for what Tsunade had to say.

"Those seals are meant to disturb his chakra. In other words, he can't perform any jutsus." She explained.

"Can't perform any...That's it." Sakura nearly leapt off the windowsill that she was sitting on. "Put Sasuke on probation and you'll see that he's serious about joining the leaf again. All you have to do is put seals on him so that he can't perform any ninjutsu, taijutsu, or genjutsu."

"Probation, huh? Well, I'll be, you figured it out." She smirked.

"Figured what out?" Naruto asked a bit suspicious.

"After we brought Sasuke back to the village, I knew that the elders weren't going to accept him back, so I had found a way to make sure that he could stay. I needed to know for sure how you two felt about the situation." She explained.

"You...what?" Naruto looked murderous yet stunned at the same time.

Sakura's heart skipped a few beats at what she was hearing. "You knew for sure that you could get Sasuke probation?"

"I didn't know for sure until last night after we dropped him off at the prison. I needed to know a hundred percent from both of you so that I wouldn't make the wrong decision. But I am warning both of you. If you thought the assassins coming after his head was bad enough when he was in a coma, they'll be even worse when they find out he's on probation."

"You have nothing to worry about, granny. I'll watch over him." Naruto gestured to himself with the widest grin ever on his face—Sakura swore she saw every one of his teeth.

"H-How quickly can you approve of his probation?" Sakura asked, trying to settle her racing heart.

"I believe that I can bring him back by noon tomorrow."

* * *

><p>Both Sakura and Naruto had split after meeting with Tsunade, and after hearing the wonderful news, Sakura had headed back to her apartment to get an early start on some much needed rest. Naruto had headed down to Ichiraku's to celebrate the good news.<p>

"Yo, pops." He greeted Teuchi as he took his usual spot at the counter.

"Hello, Naruto, the usual?" He called back.

"Yup."

"And what brings you here, Naruto?" Ayame, Teuchi's daughter, asked while the noodles cooked.

"Just celebrating some good news is all." He told her.

She gave him a smile before returning to the noodles. The flaps to the shop blew in the wind as someone came to sit down next to him. Naruto saw the very familiar shape of Hinata, but there was something different about tonight that had caught his eye. She had her usual long hair tied up and instead of wearing her usual clothes, she wore a deep purple cocktail dress with slim black heels. He blinked a couple of times after realizing how exposed she was compared to normal.

"H-Hinata?" He said her name aloud.

She turned around at the sound of her name, causing her face to turn a very bright crimson. "Oh, N-Naruto-kun. H-Hello," she tried giving him a smile.

"W-What are you w-wearing?" He gulped.

"Oh, th-this? I, um, was just at a party with Ino, and she, um, thought..." she trailed off.

"Y-You look, um, very...ho-ah, nice! Yeah, nice. That's it..." His gaze was fixated on her and though she was blushing until her face became completely engulfed in crimson, he didn't notice that aspect about her. To be honest, he couldn't keep his eyes off of her voluptuous bust.

"Here ya go, Naruto." Ayame placed his ramen down in front of him while giving a slight wink to Hinata. Then she left the two alone once again.

'Thank the heavens! I was saved by ramen.' he thought. The smell of the ramen was enough to drag his gaze away from Hinata, though he knew she was still sitting there waiting for her own bowl. He thought it would be rude of him if he didn't talk to her so he couldn't stop his mouth from mumbling, "What a nice rack..."

Hinata heard this and gave little gasp at his comment, causing him to notice what he had just said aloud.

"Of spices. W-What a nice rack of spices." He tried to cover up his comment. "Hinata, how about you talk now." He said while taking in a large mouthful of his ramen.

"Um, well, I heard that Sasuke-kun woke up today. You must be very happy, Naruto-kun." She tried giving him a smile, but it was very hesitant.

His eyes softened a bit at her comment as if in though before he replied, "Yeah, I am."

"How's Sakura-chan handling the news?"

He swallowed what was in his mouth before speaking, "She's, um...contempt. And I guess I'm happy for her as well."

Hinata went silent and even though her bowl had reached the table already, she hadn't made a move for it. Naruto had finished his first bowl and had already ordered a second when he noticed that she didn't touch her food. It puzzled him why she was so still until he saw light tear trail marks down her cheeks and a teardrop ended up splashing in the broth of her ramen.

"Hinata, are you alright?" He asked, snapping her out of whatever mindset she had fallen into.

"Oh, yeah. I'm fine." She wiped her face, leaving black streaks across her cheeks, and tried to give him a smile.

"You don't look fine." He tried to give her a smile in return, but something inside him told him that it wasn't appropriate. Naruto disregarded the feeling and turned to face Hinata, though her face was turned away from him and he could only see one side. He brushed his thumb across the black streak of mascara, wiping away the cosmetic and startling Hinata. "There's no reason being so sad." He told her.

"N-Naruto...kun..." She stuttered as her blush started to return. "I-I'm fine, really. Whenever I'm with you, I always feel better. Thank you, Naruto-kun." This time her smile didn't falter and gave him a genuine grin which caused him to return the gesture.

After they had their fill of ramen, Naruto offered to walk Hinata home since it was so late and she was all alone. She couldn't refuse his offer so she happily agreed. The stars were out tonight, creating a beautiful scenery for taking a walk this late at night.

"So then I throw a flash bomb and the ninja is useless while I come up from behind and—"

"Naruto-kun, I don't wanna be rude, but this is the same story that you told last night when we were at the restaurant." Hinata told him as he was telling her about his latest mission in Tsukigakure.

"Oh, sorry." He put his hands behind his back as he looked up at the stars and then back down at Hinata. She had her arms crossed over her chest, and though it was a summer night, there was a slight breeze coming through. He undid his jacket and came up behind her to drape it across her shoulders while she looked up at him with another blush returning to her face. "You looked cold." He mumbled, trying to hide his own blush.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun." She gave him a smile and held the jacket closer to her body, taking in his scent of ramen, metal, and shampoo.

"So...This party you were at...Did you meet...anybody?" Naruto didn't make eye contact with her as he was trying to look at the stars, afraid that his eyes would give away something.

"There were many people that met who were all so nice, but I didn't find any of them particularly interesting." She trailed off. "There's no one as interesting as you..." she mumbled, but he had caught what she said.

"Really? What's so interesting about me?" He seemed genuinely curious now.

"Oh, well, um," she seemed caught off guard as she hadn't thought that he would've heard her. "Y-You are very p-passionate. There isn't a single thing that can cause you sorrow, and in a way, I envy that about you. You have incredible n-natural talent and strong determination. You care for your comrades and will go to such lengths just to see them happy and safe. Overall, you're the most interesting person that I know." She smiled mostly to herself.

"Hinata, I...don't know what to say." He was truly out of words for once in his life.

Naruto had stopped in his tracks while Hinata stopped just a few steps in front of him, waiting for him to continue down the path with her. But he was too busy staring at her. Her words had sunken in and he finally realized that she truly loved him for him. She had told him years ago that she was in love with him, and apparently he had forgotten about it until now when she explained what was so interesting about him. When he usually asks what people think about him, usually they answer that he's impulsive or annoying at times, but Hinata was the only one to answer like she did.

"N-Naruto-kun...are you alright?" She asked him.

"I'm more than alright, Hinata." He closed the gap between them and lightly placed his hand under her chin. He could feel her body go stiff at his touch as he raised her face closer to his. Her breath was hot against his skin and he could smell lavender, ramen, and metal coming off her skin as he gave a slight smirk at the realization of what he was about to do.

Their lips met and Hinata must've been stunned because for the first few motions, only his lips were recognizable moving against hers. She knew he was impulsive but this was the last thing she would've thought that he would've done. After applying a little more force to the kiss, she had begun moving hers in synch with his. He removed his hand from under her chin and placed it behind her head while his other one was moving to wrap itself around her waist. She wasn't completely immobile anymore as she moved her arms to wrap around his neck and grab fistfuls of his hair. His jacket had fallen off her shoulders as Naruto removed the clip that was holding her hair up.

It was as if two forces had collided together and now were at war in trying to dominate the moment. And everyone knows what happens when two forces collide. Both Naruto and Hinata started to stumble and if it wasn't for the wooden fence behind them, they would've ended up falling down to the ground. Naruto had won the "war for domination" and pinned Hinata up against the fence as he started to trail kisses down her neck. She let out a little moan of pleasure as Naruto made his way back up to her mouth, leaving kisses in his wake. As his face met hers again, he stopped to catch his breath and he wasn't the only one who was out of air as Hinata's chest rose and fell rapidly.

"N...Naruto...kun..." She panted.

"H...Hinata...I'm sorry...that I didn't realize it sooner..." He gasped before continuing their kiss.

* * *

><p>Sakura had wanted to get some sleep that night before she would see Sasuke the next day, but nothing every goes as planned. She knew it was the middle of the night and so when she heard a noise in her apartment, she knew that there was something wrong. Her weapons' pouch wasn't anywhere near her, but that didn't worry her since she could always use her strength if the time needed it. Slowly, she got out of bed and silenced her feet as she made her way across her bedroom floor. She slowly opened her door and saw nothing but darkness on the other end.<p>

Sakura hadn't been very skilled in sensing out chakra but she had a slight knowledge of it. There wasn't a more perfect time to test out the skill anyway. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the other room with her own chakra. It was like using echo location as chakra waves bounced off her furniture and came back to her. Everything seemed clear until her last wave of chakra came back with a high pulse. There was definitely someone in her apartment, and thankfully she was on the first floor.

She built up chakra in her fist, enough so that she wouldn't cause that much damage to her home but enough to scare off whoever invaded it. She flew the door open and connected her fist with her living room floor, causing her floor to crack and break apart. The lights flared to life and Sakura recognized the intruder immediately.

"Mai? What are you doing in my apartment?" She questioned.

"I...need...help." She gasped as blood started to trickle down the corners of her mouth. Mai also clutched her side as she fell to the floor.

Though Sakura barely knew the woman, she couldn't just leave her to die. She ran to the other side of the room and knelt down beside the wounded kunoichi. Hovering her hands over her body, Sakura began the usual treatment of flesh wounds and though she didn't know how extensive the damage was, it would only take her a second to find out. After a few minutes went by, Mai started to open her eyes and gave Sakura a small smile.

"I'm...sorry, Sakura-chan." She muttered and more blood bubbled from her mouth.

"Don't speak. You need to save your energy." Sakura told her, but Mai shook her head.

"Please...stop. You'll waste...your chakra..."

"What do you mean? You're hurt so I have to help you."

"You can't treat me...with medical ninjutsu...Find Ziom...I need him..." Her eyes started to flutter and roll back into her head, so Sakura applied more chakra to her Shosen Jutsu to keep her awake.

"I can't leave you like this. You might die." Sakura insisted on staying with her patient.

Mai shook her head. "I promise you that I won't die. I just need Ziom. He shouldn't be that far behind me."

"You're right. I'm not that far behind you." Ziom had entered through Sakura's window so silently that he nearly gave her a heart attack. "I think I have what you need." He handed her a small crystallized bottle that was filled with a dark crimson liquid.

Mai took the bottle into her shaking hand, popped the lid off, and started to guzzle down the strange liquid. Sakura had stopped her treatment and was helping her to sit up so she wouldn't choke on whatever medicine she was taking. Ziom had also knelt down onto his knee and watched with concerned eyes for his partner. After Mai had taken her medicine, her eyes started to roll back into her head and her body had gone limp in both Sakura's and Ziom's hands.

"Help me lay her down, please." He looked at Sakura with protective and worrisome eyes, causing her to simply nod in agreement. He grabbed one side while she grabbed the other and Sakura led him to her bedroom where she allowed Mai to take up her bed. "Thank you for taking care of her." He said while he pulled the blankets up to Mai's chin.

Sakura walked out of the room and went to her kitchen to make a pot of coffee. She turned around to offer Ziom a cup but was a bit surprise to see that he didn't follow her out of the bedroom. Backtracking, she headed back to her room and slowly opened the door to see Ziom kneeling beside Mai as she stayed asleep. His eyes were closed and he seemed to be muttering something in a different language so she turned back around towards the kitchen to give him privacy.

By the time the coffee was done, he had come out of the bedroom and nearly gave Sakura another heart attack. His stealth was incredible for a ninja. She offered him a cup and he gladly accepted it, so she told him to sit down at her table while she poured him one. Once his coffee was done, she walked over to the table and handed him his cup while taking a seat across from him.

"Can you explain to me why you and Mai are in my home at such a late hour?" She asked before taking a sip from her cup.

"We were on our way back from our village when Mai's illness kicked in. She was ahead of me and so I couldn't help her in time. I guess she went in search of the closest medical-nin that she could find." He explained.

"What, exactly, is her illness anyway? I sensed a lot of internal injuries as well as a great lost of chakra while I was trying to heal her. What would cause something so terrible?"

"It's something genetically inherited through her clan." He sighed and put his cup down.

Sakura took notice that he wasn't wearing all black like the previous night. Instead, he wore a deep blue, sleeveless shirt that cut right above his navel and its collar was raised like a turtleneck's. His hair was also longer than she remembered as it was pulled back into a ponytail that was set high upon his head with only a few strands of his hair framing his face. She presumed that he was wearing dark pants because she hadn't really noticed what he was wearing, but there was one thing that stood out over what she could see right now. He wore a crystal the color of amber around his neck which gleamed as golden as his eyes.

"The Sintessa clan has birthed many people with large deposits of chakra, and with their knowledge of medicine ranging from jutsus to herbs and potions, they put forth their abilities and are known as miracle healers." He continued, snapping Sakura out of any distractions. "Though as gifted as they are with their abilities to cure any illness, it seems that there is one disease that even they can't heal. They call it Ketsueki Doku. Basically, their chakra is eating away at their body."

"That's awful. Are you sure there's no way to stop it?" She asked.

He shook his head. "Unfortunately, there hasn't been a single clan member who has lived passed the age of thirty, and even living to thirty is an incredible accomplishment which meant that person had strong vitality. So far, Mai is considered one of the best in her clan and they predict that she'll live to be at least thirty five."

"If there's no cure, then why is she taking that medicine?"

"Mai created it. She believes that that drug will end her clan's suffering, but she needed to test it first. Apparently, it only prolongs the illness which could be another factor as to why she's living this long, but there's a terrible side effect to the drug." He paused, taking in a deep breath of air. "She's addicted to the drug and if she goes too long without taking it, it speeds up the disease."

"Can't she find a counter balance then?"

"No, she's a stubborn woman." He smirked. Sakura could've sworn she saw a strong emotion pass through his eyes, but she couldn't put her finger on what emotion. "Mai believes that that drug will be the cure one day and so she spends as much of her time working on its formula as she possibly can. What's even more disappointing is that her clan, Sintessa, has also been known as the Kessho no Hana or crystal blossoms. They possess the kekkei genkai Shoton."

* * *

><p>I'm sorry for the late update, but I hoped you're enjoying my story so far. I wanted to put some NaruHina in because I love that pairing and I did warn you that there would be other pairings, so be prepared for more! Mwahahahahahah! Erhem...Anyways, there will be more SasuSaku soon!<p>

I also wanted to introduce my other OC's, Sintessa Mai and Katorabe Ziom, so I gave you the background story of one of them. I hope you like her. I'll put up a bio sheet later on when you get to know both of them a little more, and trust me, you'll get to know them more. (wink, wink)

I'll also clear something up before you ask me: yes, Shoton is crystal release. Guren from the anime did use Shoton, but it says that they weren't sure if she was the last survivor or not, and they didn't give her a last name so...yeah. I'm not saying that she's directly related to my Sintessa clan, but I did want to use that ability, Shoton, really badly because it was such a cool and beautiful technique that I felt was perfect for Mai. Just don't hate me when I use it later in my story. Thanks for reading and don't forget to comment!


	4. Probation

Probation

Sakura hadn't been able to find sleep after talking with Ziom. She ended up on the roof to her building, looking as the night sky switched to a pinkish hue. Dawn was breaking and that only meant _he_ would be returning. Every fiber of her being ached at his second chance, but there was a part of herself that had doubt he really wanted to return. She sighed, trying not to think about that part of herself at all.

"Mind if I join you?"

Sakura turned around at the familiar voice. It didn't surprise her that it was Ziom who decided to join her in watching the sun come up. "No, not at all." She smiled and patted the open ledge next to her.

He took the seat as a yawn started to make its way through his body. He covered his mouth with his hand but in the process had he had brushed the amber gem that was strung around his neck. It glistened in the morning light, which brought back a curious thought from earlier. She hadn't known she'd been staring at him until Ziom made a noise of interest which brought her back from her reverie.

"Can I help you?" He asked, a smile threatening at the corners of his mouth.

"Oh, no. It's nothing." Sakura tried to advert her eyes from his necklace, but its gleam was just to dazzling to ignore.

Ziom had noticed where her eyes were placed and smiled. He took the gem and wrapped his hand around it. He had closed his eyes for just a split second as his smile increased to show his teeth, most likely at a memory that revolved around the gem. But as quickly as it came, his face had gone back to a dull happiness compared to the one that was just displayed. "This," he breathed, "is a special crystal created by Mai. As long as the color doesn't fade, I know that she's alive."

"That's remarkable." She commented. "You know, I've encountered a Shoton user a few years ago before the war. I remember that her crystals took on a pinkish hue, but yours is amber. Do you know why that is?"

"I'm not sure, but if I had to guess, it's probably because of bloodline." He gave a slight smile after seeing the confusion in Sakura's eyes. "You see, Mai is the heir to the Sintessa clan. As far as I've seen, only the heirs of the clan have amber colored crystals, though Mai isn't just limited to that color. She's the only one in her clan that has been able to produce several different colors. That's why she is the heir to the clan even though she's not from the main branch." He explained.

"Is that what makes her so special?" The longer they stayed on the topic of Mai, the more Sakura noticed how Ziom acted. He had said nothing but praise about this woman, and every time he spoke her name, there would be a flash of emotions running through his eyes. Though it was only a flash, she could've sworn that there was a great deal of love behind those golden eyes of his.

"To her clan, yes."

"But...?"

He sighed. "She is more than just a powerful key to her bloodline. Mai is wise beyond her years, charismatic, independently strong, compassionate, and so many more things." Ziom paused as his mood switched from praise to tension. She could hear him grind his teeth as he spoke, "Though some people don't see all of that."

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked. Her curiosity had intensified now, causing any other thought to drift out of her mind.

Keeping his hand on the amber crystal, he continued, "Our village elders don't believe that Mai should ever leave the village. They're obsessed on completing her cure for Ketsueki Doku so that they can maintain their profits in her clan's income as miracle healers. They don't want her clan to die off, though neither does she." His free hand had clenched tightly into a fist. "Because of them, they forced her to test the medicine herself and now she's in this state. That village gets me so fired up."

Sakura couldn't believe what she was seeing. The angrier Ziom got the more heat started to radiate from his body. The fingerless gloves that he was wearing were starting to burn up in flames and it was all related to his fiery anger. Besides the heat that was radiating from his body, his eyes were also changing, but it wasn't like any dojutsu. Their amber light was starting to fade to a dark crimson that made it seem as if they were tainted in blood. After witnessing his eyes changing, Sakura really started to panic when his hair started to dye itself crimson to match his eyes. She had reached out for his hand suddenly before his hair had finished its completed transformation, and as soon as she did that, it receded back to its normal black and his eyes changed back to their radiant amber. He was still warm from his rapid temperature growth, but it seemed that he was cooling down.

"Ziom-kun, please, calm down." She could hear the fear in her own voice. It wasn't something she normally showed around "guests" as she tried not to show any of her weaknesses.

He rubbed his eyes and then the side of his head as if his color change had given him a headache. "I'm sorry." He told her. "It's nothing to be afraid of."

"What...just happened?"

He sighed. "My clan is known to have very...sensitive emotions. Depending on our emotion, our appearance changes to match it. When I'm angry, I turn red for example."

"What about when you're happy, sad, or...in love?" She nearly gulped on the last emotion as it was harder to say the "L" word aloud.

Ziom simply smiled and humored her question. "Well, usually only my eyes change color, but the stronger the emotion the more I change to match it. Just now, I was angry so my eyes changed first but since I was furious, my hair started to change. When I'm sad my eyes turn blue, when I'm happy my eyes are amber, and when I'm in love...my eyes turn pink."

"Were you...were you ever in love?" Blushing at the question, she waited for his answer.

He turned his head away to look toward the morning sun. Sakura could see a faint smile playing at the corners of his mouth. "I don't know if I can answer that. I have seen members of my clan, though, and they've all had pink eyes or pink eyes with pink hair to match. That's how I know." He explained and brought his attention back to her. "You know what I like about people like you, your colors don't have to change in order to show someone else your feelings for them. I envy that about other people. You don't have to wear your emotions so outwardly, but yet...that's why you people bottle in all of your thoughts until they explode."

Sakura couldn't help but to inhale deeply. It was as if he was reading her mind about a couple nights ago. Her heart wouldn't stop pounding in her ears and her breath was caught in her throat. 'Maybe it would be better to wear my emotions like the color of my hair. Maybe then it would make things feel easier.' she thought.

"You know, though," he smirked, "you do remind me of a fellow clansman. Though your colors don't change due to emotions, your hair does resemble my color of love. Your hair is a representation of your love for your comrades." He ran his hand through his own hair as if imaging what the feeling would be like. "I haven't known you long, Sakura-chan, but I can tell that you love your comrades. I remember seeing your face after Uchiha Sasuke woke up from his coma. Your love for him was easy to read in your eyes, and for a moment, I thought that was our true color of love in my clan. Hopefully one day, I'll have your shade of pink."

She smiled lightly at the compliment and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"Well, isn't that a pretty picture."

Both Sakura and Ziom turned to see Mai standing in the doorway that led back into the building. Her brilliant white hair was disheveled and Sakura could see where the sweat had pinned her loose strands to her forehead and the back of her neck. Mai's outfit was also simple with its light blue t-shirt, a weird symbol on the front, and black shorts as it was the same one she had worn last night with the blood stains as evidence. She stood there like stone in her bare feet with her eyes heavily locked onto the morning scene.

"Mai, you're awake." Ziom smiled and Sakura saw his eyes take on a pinkish hue before returning to a dazzling amber. She also noticed that Ziom never used honorifics with Mai's name unlike with her own.

"What are you doing up here?" Mai was very demanding. In fact, the first night that Sakura had met the woman, she had also been very serious and authoritative. She had given her the impression of being the dominant one of the pair.

"I was just watching the sunrise. Will come join us?" He moved over so that there would be a spot on the ledge for the cold woman and waited patiently for her to sit by his side.

Her cheeks flared with color then and it looked almost as if she had a fever, but her eyes weren't hazed like in a usual fever. She cast her violet eyes away from them and tightened her jaw, trying not to look at Ziom. "Don't mind me. Finish your conversation."

"Mai...are you alright?" Concern grew in his eyes as they started to change to a light violet, almost matching Mai's.

"I'm fine. Don't let my well being interfere with whatever you're doing." She huffed and walked back inside the building. Her mumbling was heard even as she descended the stairs.

"Mai! Come back!" He called after her and got up from his seat, but he didn't leave. Sighing, Ziom took his seat and let his head fall into his hands. "Sometimes...she has the worst timing in the world."

"I'm sorry. Did I do anything to upset her?" Sakura asked.

"No, it's not your fault." He smirked. "Oh, that reminds me. Can you arrange a meeting with your Hokage for us? You see, Mai is a genius in medicine but even she's having a difficult time with the cure, as I've told you. She needs help from a master, and, well, that would mean asking assistance from Konoha's own Slug Princess."

"I can try, but if she does decide to take up an audience with you, it most likely won't be today. She's pretty busy these days..." Sakura's thoughts trailed off elsewhere as she remembered about what was happening today.

"Oh, I see." His face sort of fell at her answer but perked right back up as he shot her a slight smile.

"If you need a place to stay, I know a good friend who will let you stay at his place while Mai stays with me. You won't be able to find a decent hotel this late in the season." She offered.

"Thank you so much and I appreciate your kindness." He looked over toward where Mai had stormed off. "I know Mai feels the same way."

* * *

><p>Sakura's impression of Ziom was that he was a kind, caring, compassionate, and fearless man who showed great passion for his comrades. She also got the feeling that there was something going on between him and his partner, Mai, and that was one reason why she didn't want the two of them staying with each other in the same house. The other reason was she didn't quite trust him enough. He was still an outside ninja, no matter how nice and understanding he was, so she had to keep him under some sort of surveillance.<p>

"Hello, Sakura-chan." It was a familiar voice that made her turn around.

Sakura was lost in thought as she was making her way to see Tsunade, so she was a bit startled when Sai had called her name. He was only being polite, so she managed to keep her reactions to herself. "Oh, it's just you, Sai. Good morning." She smiled at him.

"Are you headed to see the Hokage?" He asked. With his ANBU background, it was no surprise that he had already found out what she was up to.

"Ah, yes." Then it hit her. She had found the perfect babysitter. "Sai, could you do me a favor?"

"Of course. I read in a book once that if you take up a favor of a friend that that friend will owe you one in return." He gave his closed off smile which had always gave her the creeps.

"Yeah...Anyway, I have a friend who's staying in the village but all of the hotel rooms are taken up. He needs a place to stay and I was wondering if you could offer him your couch. Will you do it for me, please?" She asked, not wanting to tell him her true reason until he took up the offer.

His eyes had opened then as their blackness pierced right through her. It was as if he could already tell what she was thinking. "Of course, but may I ask something?"

She nodded.

"Is he a shinobi, perhaps?"

She nodded again. "Yes, and as much as I want to trust him, I've only just met him. If he is putting on a facade, then he's doing a pretty good job about it, though his emotions tell me otherwise."

"I see. So you also want me to keep an eye on him as well?" He asked.

"If that's not too much to ask." She said a bit sheepishly, feeling that she was asking a lot from Sai.

He shook his head. "Not at all. I've had harder tasks."

"Thank you, Sai." She smiled. "You know what, I think you'll like Ziom."

Both Sai and Sakura had already started to make their way toward the Hokage residence. Sai had been very silent since she had thanked him and it wasn't until they were nearly there did he make another sound. "That's it." He said, nearly startling Sakura by his sudden gasp. Even though he was still reading books on other people's emotions, he was actually starting to get a personality of his own. Sometimes she would think it was Naruto influenced by some of the things that he reacted to. Like now for instance.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"I've been thinking where I've heard the name Ziom before." He pulled out a book from his back pocket, but this wasn't his usual 'Easy Guide to Friendships and Hatred' that he'd been reading lately.

It was small and black without any title on the cover. He flipped through a few pages before landing on one with a picture of Ziom in the corner. Sakura thought it was a bingo book at first but soon realized that it was an info sheet. It's title was on the corner of the page right above Ziom's picture: 'Gifted Shinobi of Our Generation'. She tried to look over his shoulder to get a better look at the page, smiling at some of the interesting facts that were listed.

"'Ziom, the Solemn Lion, Katorabe is one of the most intelligent shinobi of our time," he read, "He was ranked at Jounin level in Kagegakure, but there is reason to believe that he was once of higher rank before the Fourth Shinobi War. Right after the war, he had mysteriously vanished from the village and people believed that he had died in battle, but there have been recent sightings that he's alive in a smaller village just west of Konohagakure in Medikusu Village. As the young heir to the Katorabe clan, it is crucial for him to return to Kagegakure but so far not a single sensory ninja has been able to find him.'" He closed the book as they stopped right outside of the Hokage's building.

Sakura's heart was pounding as she realized what was going to be happening. Today would be Team 7's official reunion after everything that happened, and there were so many things that could still go wrong. She tried to put all of her doubts behind her, but they kept resurfacing like bubbles in a pond. Taking a deep sigh, she started to head into the building with Sai on her tail.

She stopped quickly and turned around, nearly surprising the ninja behind her. "Wait, are you going to see Sasuke too?" She asked.

He nodded. "Am I not apart of Team 7 as well? At least this time when I meet him, we'll be on equal grounds."

She stared at him for a few more seconds before speaking, "There's something else as well, isn't there?"

Sai closed his and gave her a smile—a fake smile. "What makes you say that?"

Sakura could read him like an open book. He was never really good at lying to her. "Don't pull that crap with me, Sai. Now tell me, did Tsunade-sama order to watch Sasuke today?"

"Perceptive as always, Sakura-san." He dropped the smile. "Yes, she did."

"He doesn't need so many body guards." She muttered mostly to herself. "Naruto and I can handle him quite fine." Sighing, she simply waved all her thoughts away and continued to proceed into the building.

She couldn't help counting the steps every time her heart pounded along. The sensations she was feeling were the only things telling her that this wasn't a dream. The sweat on her palms were another sign of this reality as she clenched and re-clenched her fists out of nervousness.

Finally, they had reached the Hokage's office and Sakura was still showing signs of nervousness as she hesitated to open the door. Sai didn't pick up on her nervousness and simply opened it for her, without her being prepared for what she saw. Tsunade was sitting at her desk like any other day while Shikamaru stood in front of her, clearly whispering something to her. She couldn't hear what he was saying, but she didn't care either because her eyes immediately locked onto the still figure that sat on the ledge of one of the large windows in the office.

This figure was familiar as she saw him in her dreams nearly every night. His hair was shaggier, though, since she last saw—not counting yesterday. He wore nothing but gray in loose clothing that made him looked skinnier than he was already. She could tell that there were circles under his eyes, most likely from a restless night of no sleep, and another thing she noticed were black markings all over his forearms that led up to his biceps, but that was as far she could see. He was also barefoot with the same markings on the tops of his feet, and his attention was focused far away in deep thought.

"Sasuke...kun..." She had barely been audible, but nearly everyone had their eyes on her, all except the said Uchiha in question. The pain in her chest had tightened greatly and it felt as though her heart was going to burst right out of her chest. She repeated in her mind that she wasn't going to cry, and so far she was doing an excellent job. Regaining her voice, she tried to direct her attention to Tsunade, though her eyes kept a close lookout on Sasuke in her corner vision. "Ahem, Tsunade-sama, I need to speak with you."

"Go ahead, Sakura. Shikamaru was just leaving." The Hokage's eyes glanced up at the young Nara and he simply grumbled an inaudible response before heading out the door.

"Um, okay." She cleared her throat, in hopes that her nerves would go away. "Last night, two shinobi from Medikusu Village appeared at my door asking for help. I let them stay with me, but they request your presence." She reported.

"Ah, they must be Ziom and Mai, right? I was expecting them, but not this soon." She paused as she looked down at her desk, most likely looking at her schedule for the day. "Sakura, could you find them a place to stay? I won't be able to see them for another two days, I'm afraid."

"Right." Sakura mentally smiled, thanking herself for asking Sai to look after Ziom earlier.

"Tsunade-baachan!"

Everyone could hear Naruto's voice as he made his way up the building. Sakura gave a little smile at hearing her friend's voice while Tsunade simply closed her eyes, sighed, and clenched her fists at the sound of her nickname. He skidded into the room wearing only a t-shirt and his trademark orange pants, and at first, he didn't see Sasuke on the windowsill.

"Where's that Sasuke-teme?" He asked as he looked around the room.

"Why don't you open up your eyes, aho." Sasuke muttered, which caused Naruto's ears to perk up and directed his eyes to where Sasuke was sitting. His voice sounded dry as if he'd been out in the sun for far too long without any water. He didn't sound like Sasuke to Sakura right now, though his true colors were being shown.

"Kan'aro..." Naruto grumbled, but before he could jump down the Uchiha's throat, Sakura managed to snap out of her frozen state and hit him upside the head—resulting in the blonde's attention to be brought to her. "Sakura-chan, why'd you do that?" He asked while rubbing the soft spot where she had hit him.

"You're here for only ten seconds and already you're going to start a fight with him? Really, Naruto, think before you act." She told him.

He muttered something incoherent in reply.

"What did you say?" Her annoyance tolerance for the day was starting to rise, and apparently it was evident on her face.

"Nothing." He was quick to respond.

"I thought so." She crossed her arms over her chest in satisfaction.

"Ahem," Tsunade cleared her throat to get their attention, though Sasuke didn't pay her any mind and continued to look out the window. "Can we get on with this? I have many important appointments that need attending to today."

"Hai," Sakura answered immediately out of habit while Naruto and Sai simply nodded.

Tsunade picked up a scroll that was laying on her desk before reading aloud, "'The captured ninja, Uchiha Sasuke, is hereby under probation within Konohagakure. He will be bound without the use of chakra which means that he cannot perform any ninjutsu, genjutsu, fuinjutsu, or kenjutsu and will also be placed under constant surveillance. He must stay within Konohagakure with no contact of the outside world. If he is to break any of these rules, Uchiha Sasuke will be killed immediately on sight without any hesitation from either Jounin rank to members of the ANBU. If he makes it past his probation period, he will be released with the allowance of chakra flow, though a seal will be placed on him to alert any high amount of chakra being used. The seal will remain in effect unless the Hokage deems it unnecessary.'"

Sakura had to contain her gasp when Tsunade read that he could be killed on sight if he broke the rules, telling herself that she had nothing to worry about. Sasuke had told her that he would come back to Konoha if he was allowed, though she was still a bit suspicious. Five years ago, he seemed that destroying Konoha would bring him the revenge that he wanted for his brother's sacrifice, but now he wanted to come back. It was as if this was an entirely new Sasuke and he broke out of his own nightmare. What could he have dreamt while he was in that coma?

"Anyway, I take it that you three will be watching him today?" Tsunade asked, trying to bring back the energy in the room.

"Yes, Tsunade-sama." Sakura couldn't help but to glance over at him, but of course he wasn't looking over here.

"Alright, I read you the rules, now go. I have important things to attend to." She told them before sitting back down behind her desk.

"Um, Tsunade-sama?"

"Hm?"

"Could I ask when his probation will be over?" Sakura asked, hoping that it wouldn't be long.

"I expect a weekly report, and if they turn out well, then I say he'd have the minimum of about twelve months. If he's showing signs that he's not improving, then I'd say a maximum would be about five years." She told them.

"Well, that ain't gonna happen." Naruto said. "C'mon Sasuke, let's get outta here." He was the first to exit, though Sai, Sakura, and Sasuke all remained in the room. After he noticed that no one followed him, he reappeared in the doorway. "Get a move on it, people! Everyone else wants to see him too!"

No one moved.

"That's it. Don't make me move you." He threatened, but again, no one moved. "I warned you." He clasped his hands together. "Orioke no Jutsu!" He exclaimed and a puff of smoke erupted from nowhere as he transformed into a beautiful, young female version of himself.

Sai simply stared at him while both Tsunade and Sakura clenched their fists. Sakura was the closest one to him and managed to hit him upside the head once again, causing him to transform back. Both Tsunade and Sakura were chastising him very loudly, and in the mix of all things, no one noticed the slight smirk that had formed on Sasuke's face. He had closed his eyes and turned his head away as he noticed that nothing had changed. _Just like all those years ago, huh...Itachi._ he thought.

* * *

><p>After they left Tsunade's office, Naruto immediately regretted doing his sexy jutsu as he rubbed his sore head where Sakura had beat him several times over. He walked ahead of the group, just slightly, with Sai by his side reciting something from a book he'd just read saying that if a woman hits you it's either out of anger or likeness. Sakura, on the other hand, remained to walk by Sasuke's side seeing that the Uchiha didn't mind, though he hadn't spoke since insulting Naruto.<p>

She kept peeking up at him whenever she thought he wasn't looking, though she hoped that he was. Her heart was beating faster than ever as the soft murmurs of Sai and Naruto filled the background along with the voices of Konoha citizens. She could hear them whispering things as Sasuke made his way through town and knew that he heard them too, though he looked as impassive as ever. The Sasuke from five years ago would've killed them all by now. 'But he's not the Sasuke from five years ago.' she told herself. 'He's changed. I know it.'

"Stop staring. It's rude." Sasuke spoke, though it was barely above a whisper.

"Oh," she blushed. "I wasn't staring."

"Then what were you looking at?" He asked. Was he making conversation?

"I, eto...noticed that you needed a haircut. I could do it for you later, if you want." She hoped that it was a good cover story.

Unconsciously, he ran a hand through his hair but didn't say anything.

She didn't want the conversation to end, so she tried to keep it simple. "You know, you woke up at a good time. I love the summer season."

Still no response.

"I feel like I'm talking to your comatose state again." She muttered, but apparently he had heard her. "At least then I could tell you anything..."

"Sakura..." He began but was interrupted by walking into Naruto's back. "Baka, watch where you're going." He muttered while rubbing his nose.

Though before Naruto could say anything, he hid behind the nearest tree. His behavior had changed drastically and was weirder than usual. Sakura turned her attention to what he must've seen, but that couldn't have been right. There was no threat in front of them. In fact, Kiba, Shino, and Hinata happened to walk by and as they did, Hinata gave Sakura a wave with a wide grin spread across her face. A slight difference in her smile, but otherwise, there was nothing wrong.

"Naruto, what are you afraid of?" She asked as the group walked by.

"Shh," he told her and placed his index finger to his mouth.

"Hello, Sakura-chan." Hinata had closed the space between the two groups, though Shino and Kiba with Akamaru stayed a distance away. They must've noticed Sasuke because Kiba's nose was wrinkled up and Akamaru was growling, though it was hushed from the distance. "Have you seen Naruto-kun? I need to r-return something to him." Her cheeks started to flare a bit red as her eyes went to the ground and Sakura noticed that they Hyuuga was holding something orange and black in her arms.

Sakura could see Naruto in the tree as he signaled for her to keep quiet, but she was curious as to why he was hiding from Hinata. "Yeah, he's over there." She pointed to the tree.

As Hinata turned around, Naruto hopped out of the tree and landed right beside her, his cheeks as red as hers. "Oh, g-good afternoon, N-Naruto-kun. I, um, you f-forgot your jacket..." She trailed off as she usually did whenever she talked to him.

"Right." He scratched the back of his head as Hinata handed him his signature jacket. "Thank you, Hinata-chan."

She gave him another smile before heading over towards Kiba and Shino. Naruto put the familiar jacket on and snugged his hands in the pockets, realizing that there was something in there. He hoped it was a ticket to Ichiraku's but he was wrong. Instead, it was a note from Hinata and his face soon felt hot.

"Are you alright, Naruto?" Sakura asked, after she saw the note in his hand and how red his face was getting.

"Uh? Oh, yeah." Putting the note back in his pocket, he switched back over to his normal attitude, causing suspicion to cross Sakura's mind. "C'mon. We got a lot of people to see!" And with that, he started to take the lead again.

* * *

><p>Sumimasen, sumimasen! Okay, I know I owe you guys more than what I gave you but I'm tired. I finished this around 2 a.m and now I'm tired. Plus, I had work in the morning. I promise to get started on the next chapter as soon as possible.<p>

In the beginning, I was trying to introduce my OC's a little better because you'll be seeing those two a lot more, along with Yuki. If you wanna read their bios, go to .com and look up animeinsanity112989. You'll come to my profile (hopefully) and then all you'll have to do is check out my gallery to find my OCs. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	5. A Day to Remember

A Day to Remember

Naruto had found a shady spot with a table already set up since it was close to a cafe. He offered to get something to eat for all them to which only Sai and Sakura responded as Sasuke seemed closed off once again. As they waited for his return, Sai reopened his book from earlier and continued to read silently to himself, leaving Sasuke and Sakura alone in silence. She watched as the clouds blew by lazily, trying not to think about the awkward tension that seemed so thick she could cut it with a knife.

She glanced over at Sasuke and saw that his head was in his hands and his eyes were glassed over in deep thought. As much as she wanted conversation, she knew that he wasn't going to be saying a word yet, which left Sai and his book. Sakura was still curious to learn more about Ziom and maybe there was something about Mai in there as well. By the way things were going, she knew no one was going to say something.

With a sigh, she turned her attention to Sai. "Um, Sai?"

He glanced up from his book.

"Does that book say anything else about Katorabe Ziom?" She asked.

Sai flipped through a few pages as Sakura's eyes did another check on Sasuke. He no longer had his head in his hands, but his gaze wasn't quite fixed on them either. His entire body seemed shifted away from hers which felt like a slap to her face. It felt as if they were kids again and he didn't even notice her existence again.

"It only says a few more things. I can read them for you if you like." He offered, and she nodded in hopes that the sound of Sai's voice would cover up this awkward silence. "'Ziom was blamed for the death of his mother but wasn't charged for the crime. Instead, Kagegakure and the Katorabe clan decided that the incident happened because of his lack of control over his emotions. Shortly after his dilemma, his sensei had been caught giving neighboring villages classified information on their most elite ninja and other secrets of the village. He was convicted of treason and was publicly executed, despite the efforts Ziom had made to save his sensei. So, he was now forced to find another teacher in order to keep his status in the village. Only one shinobi would agree to teach him, and after training together, they became an unbeatable team until a simple mission went wrong. After her death, Ziom lost control of his emotions and rampaged around the village. It took ten of the most elite shinobi of Kagegakure, along with the help of the Onikage, to restrain him.'" He finished.

'That's so sad.' she thought.

"Where'd you get that book?" A familiar voice asked from above.

Everyone turned their gaze up to the tree where Ziom sat crouched on one of its branches. He didn't look that much different than this morning, though he two katanas strapped on his back and wearing a pouch around his hips as if he was prepared for battle. His eyes were a mixture of amber and a light shade of red, which meant that he was trying to control the anger he was feeling. Sakura also noticed that his hands were carved into the trunk of the tree before he leapt from the branch and landed lightly onto his feet like a cat from its perch.

"Ziom-kun, what are you doing here?" Sakura asked, since she was the only person who knew the man in the first place.

"I needed to pick up a few things for Mai, but never mind that. Answer my question." He was clearly agitated by what he had just heard.

Sai looked at Sakura and then back at the strange shinobi. He had just read everything in the book and gained some valuable information in case things got out of hand. She simply shot him a pleading look as to say that this man can be trusted so tell him. "I got it at the bookstore."

"Well, I could've guessed that." He grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. "When I get my hands on that author..." he trailed off.

"Don't think that by doing that you'll settle your demons. Trust me." Sasuke finally spoke, giving interest in what was happening.

"Uchiha Sasuke..." As Ziom said his name, it wasn't out of spite or malice. Instead, he almost sounded respectful and maybe even a little admiration came forth. "I'm glad that they decided to give you that second chance. Don't betray that trust." He smirked, regaining his usual demeanor.

"I don't like being told what to do, and especially from someone I just heard about. As far as I care, you're disposable and I don't speak to trash like that." He rebutted, irritation strongly coating his tone.

"As vehement as always, huh?" Ziom sounded a bit more defensive than a few moments ago. "Fine, I'll take your advice if you take mine."

Just then, everything happened in a flash. There was a clashing sound like metal on metal and several swift noises ringing throughout the area. Sakura wasn't prepared for what happened, but Sasuke must've been because he was out of his seat in an instant—catching her in his arms and pulling her out of the line of fire. He had pressed her close to his body so that she could tell that he smelled of dirt, blood, and metal, causing her whole body to shudder at his touch. He held her with the strength of one arm while his free hand grabbed a kunai that had been thrown to defend himself.

Sakura couldn't see who had attacked and barely saw what the others had done to defend themselves. She remembered seeing Ziom reach for one of his katanas while Sai was already on his feet with his tanto in hand. After the rush of everything, she pushed against his chest to get free. Like hell she would let them fight without her. She wasn't weak anymore, though apparently Sasuke must've felt that way because otherwise he wouldn't have rushed to protect her. Wait...protect her? Had he really tried to protect her?

"That's impossible! I always hit my mark!" It was a familiar female voice which had exclaimed above all the other noises in the area.

Once Sakura had gotten free, much to her dismay, she immediately recognized who had attacked them. It was Team Guy with their sensei. At first she didn't know why they attacked, but everything seemed to come back to her as they moved in closer to deal with whatever threat they saw. Sakura remembered that Team Guy had been out on a mission, so they weren't here when Sasuke woke up and when Ziom came into the village. In fact, basically no one knew of Ziom and Mai's presence in the village which made Ziom look like the most suspected target.

"Wait! Neji-kun! Lee-san! Tenten!" Sakura called out, trying to get their attention before they attacked again.

It was Lee who stopped first, resting on the closest roof as Neji and Tenten came close to his side. They all seemed prepared for a fight, but Lee held up his fist, signaling to stop. It took a few seconds, but eventually Neji relaxed enough to only keep his Byakugan active and Tenten had re-concealed her few kunai that had been ready to strike.

"Sakura-chan, what's going on? Are you okay?" Lee asked, though his eyes remained locked on Ziom and Sasuke.

"We're fine. There was no need to ambush us like you did." She scolded him.

"But Sakura-chan, Neji had sensed an increasing amount of chakra coming from over here. We thought you were in trouble." There was no doubt in his words as concern did coat his tone.

"There's no trouble. Now, get down from there." She told them, and everyone seemed to relax just a bit more.

She saw that Ziom had re-sheathed his katana, and both Sai and Sasuke were already sitting back down in their previous seats. Letting out a sigh of relief, she placed her hand over her heart as its pounding became less and less with each passing moment. It took Team Guy no time to reach the small table, and though Lee and Tenten seemed a bit more relaxed, Sakura saw that Neji was still on edge. The veins by his eyes were still bulged and she could tell that his Byakugan hadn't been released, most likely being pointed at Sasuke.

"What's going on?" Tenten asked a bit gruffly as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Who are you?" She glared at Ziom.

With a sigh, Sakura explained nearly everything. She told them about Sasuke's awakening, the arrival of Ziom and Mai, Naruto and her breaking into Konoha's prison just to visit Sasuke, and then about the latter's probation. As she was talking to the team, her mind couldn't help but to wander off in a different form of thought. The main question that puzzled her was where in the hell was Naruto?

"—and then you attacked us for no reason." She finished.

"I see." Lee pounded his fist into the palm of his hand. He gave the impression that he understood, but sometimes that was all an act because something was being explained too fast for him.

Sakura at least hoped that Neji and Tenten understood all the information that she told them. And by the way that Neji had dropped his Byakugan and Tenten seemed less tense had confirmed her assumptions.

"So, he's," Tenten pointed to Ziom who had leaned back against the nearest tree, "a guest here with a medical-nin from another village, and Sasuke-kun is on probation but can't use any ninjutsu what so ever."

"Yes," Sakura confirmed for what felt the millionth time.

"But Tenten, it's not just ninjutsu that he can't use. He's not allowed to use genjutsu either." Lee reminded his teammate.

"Well, at least his taijutsu isn't too bad." Ziom muttered as a smile played at the corners of his mouth. "But he can't do much damage with just taijutsu."

"What did you say?" Obviously, Lee was offended by the remark.

"Taijutsu can't do much damage." He repeated, obviously seeing the irritation in Lee's eyes. "In fact, it doesn't matter how well you master it. If you don't have another strength either in ninjutsu, genjutsu, or even kenjutsu, you'll only end up dying on the battlefield."

Sakura didn't like this Ziom at all. He was being ruthless as he clearly knew who Rock Lee was, after all he resembled Might Guy like a clone and must've heard of his devastating taijutsu abilities. Plus, if Ziom did serve in the Fourth Shinobi War, Sakura would've placed him at being in the Third Division which would've meant he fought alongside Lee. The more he disrespected Lee the more she felt herself getting angrier.

"And you think that you're one to talk?" Neji questioned, which was a bit out of character considering the situation. "Just because you can run your mouth doesn't mean that you can run at all."

"Hyuuga 'The Prodigy' Neji, I've heard many stories about you. In fact, I would kill to have your eyes you lucky son of a—"

"Ziom-kun!" Sakura shouted. This wasn't the same kind and compassionate person she had met the other night nor had talked to last night into this morning. Something was off and she suspected it had something to do with the slight discoloration in his eyes as they switched between a subtle red, a light green, and his usual amber. Though as she shouted his name, Sakura had brought a lot of attention onto herself. "Stop acting like a kusotare! This isn't like you."

"And you think you know me? It's been a day and you think you've nailed my personality and behavior down? Not even the best shinobi could decipher me in that short amount of time." His attitude was getting rougher.

"I don't care if I know you or not, but I can tell by your eyes that this isn't like you. What do you think Mai would think if she were here?" She made her way over to him, not afraid to show her irritation. "If you continue to pick on my nakama one more time, I won't hesitate to pummel you into the ground, whether you're a guest in this village or not. And as a guest, I recommend that you be on your best behavior and shut the hell up." She had been poking his chest throughout the entire scolding.

Everyone went silent, including Ziom who continued to stare at her with different eyes. His eyes no longer fought over which color would appear. Darkness started to taint his once beautiful amber irises, which gave Sakura some concern since he didn't explain what emotion black was, though she didn't let her concern show on her face. As his eyes started to turn darker, Ziom made a quick move to grasp the side of his head and closed his eyes as if he was suffering from a terrible headache.

"There you are! I was looking all over for you." Mai had appeared out of the tension and sounded genuinely worried, flitting to Ziom's side. As soon as she did, his entire demeanor changed as he dropped his hand from his head and greeted her with a smile. His eyes also did a dramatic change from their darkening blackness to his usual bright amber. "What are you doing over here?" She looked around and saw that there were a lot of unfamiliar shinobi.

"I'm sorry, Mai." His voice was sweeter, tender like it had been all those times when he spoke with Sakura. "I guess I got a little sidetracked." This was the Ziom she had been used to already.

"Well, come on. We have a few more things to pick up." Mai grabbed his hand and started to leave, but he was still firmly set in place.

"Um, Sakura-san, I forgot to ask you. Did you find me a place to stay at yet?" He asked, which surprised her more than anything.

She nodded slowly before speaking, "Uh, yeah. Sai said that you could stay at his place."

"Thank you, Sai-san." He spoke over Sakura's shoulder. "And thank you, Sakura-san, for all your help. I greatly appreciate your kindness."

As Ziom left with Mai leading the way, everyone was nearly shocked at the sudden mood change. He had been cold, instigating, and even angry only a few moments ago, but now he had shown kindness, tenderness, and even politeness. He had told Sakura that his clan was sensitive with their emotions, but she had thought he had great control over those. She guessed that since he overheard what Sai was reading aloud, it must've caused him to lose that control which then caused his emotions to flare about and would also explain why the color of his eyes were changing so rapidly and drastically. Though it doesn't explain why he had snapped back into place as soon as Mai arrived, but she decided to leave that mystery for another day.

Sakura turned around to face Team Guy in hopes to explain for Ziom's actions. "Lee-san, you must understand that that wasn't the real Ziom-kun. He really is nice after all."

"If you say so, Sakura-chan." Lee was hesitant into believing her, but he did trust his friends after all.

"I don't care if you stick up for him, but since he mocked my teammate, I don't think I'll get along too well with that guy. Just keep him away from me, and we won't have any difficulties." Tenten was never afraid to speak her mind. "Come on, Neji. We have some training to do." She was the first to leave as she headed away from the group.

"Someone blinded by emotions will have difficulty seeing what's in front of him. I would be wary of him if I were you, Sakura-san." Neji told her and took off after Tenten.

"I'm afraid I must being going as well. I had agreed to meet Guy-sensei after I got back. Be careful, Sakura-chan." And with that, Team Guy had left the scene.

She had taken a seat back at the table along with Sai and Sasuke and peered up through the tree's branches to the rolling clouds. They moved lazily through the blue sky and seemed to not notice anything that was happening below them. She envied them at times, wishing she could live like they do and not be bothered with anything that happened in front of her. Sakura sighed as the minutes passed and it soon felt like nothing had just happened. It was as if time had reversed itself and she was sitting back in the same situation as before. Though now, her mind wouldn't let go of the image of Sasuke holding her protectively in his arms, which felt more like a dream now than reality.

"Man, you wouldn't believe the line at the stand." Naruto had said as he came up to the group, his hands full of dango. He had a huge grin on his face and it wasn't until this moment that Sakura realized where he had been.

"How long does it take to get dango, dobe?" Sasuke muttered under his breath.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Naruto was genuinely confused at the statement. "Did I miss something?" He asked.

* * *

><p>The day seemed to be going slowly as Naruto told nothing but stories about his latest missions and such, and it wasn't as if he was bragging it was just no one else was talking. If it wasn't for his rambling, the awkwardness would've been through the roof. Sakura continued to walk by Sasuke's side as they made their way through town and while Naruto took up the lead with Sai at his side, talking his ear off though Sai didn't look too interested.<p>

As they made their way through town, Sakura couldn't help and notice all the stares coming from the citizens as well as their soft whispers. She knew Sasuke could hear them, but he didn't take notice of any of them as his eyes remained distant while keeping them forward. He was quiet again and she knew he wouldn't be chattering away like Naruto, but his silence was driving her crazy. Keeping his thoughts and emotions bottled up was a cause of leaving Konoha, and she was worried that it would drive him to do it again even though she knew he wouldn't get far because of the seal.

"SAI-KUN!"

Naruto's yammering had silenced as they turned around. Ino was running toward them with her face all alight. She was still wearing her hospital uniform which told Sakura that she must've seen them while passing the hospital when she was on break or something of the sort. Though it surprised her more to see that Ino was calling out Sai's name instead of Sasuke's. Didn't she notice the Uchiha?

"Sai-kun, I need to talk to you!" She pulled at his arm, and while he was stunned, took advantage of him by dragging him away from the group.

Naruto, Sakura, and even Sasuke watched as the blonde forced the ANBU-nin to leave them. Sai was still learning emotions, though he was getting good at a few thanks to Sakura, but the look he was shooting them looked as if he was pleading for help. It was true that Ino had been spending more and more time with Sai, but what did she have to say that she couldn't say aloud to the group.

"What...just happened?" Naruto asked, a bit bewildered.

"I don't know." Sakura muttered.

"N-Naruto-kun..."

He turned around to find that Hinata had snuck up on him while in Ino's commotion. Immediately, his face went flushed as his forehead started to bead with sweat. "H-Hinata..." He mumbled.

"I, uh, n-need to talk with y-you, please." She told him.

He scratched the back of his head as he nodded in agreement. Without looking at both Sakura and Sasuke, the blonde ninja started to walk off with the Hyuuga heiress. The remaining two of the group simply watched as the pair walked out of sight. In a matter of seconds, everyone had been split apart and now that only left two.

Sakura's heart started to pound in her chest as she realized they were finally alone. They hadn't been alone since the night he had woken up from his coma. The tension had grown even thicker as both Sakura and Sasuke remained in place without uttering a single word, though she presumed that he was still lost in thought. As far as she knew, he still remained cold and detached which caused her to avoid those thoughts as she didn't want to think about them.

"Sasuke-kun, um," she paused, not sure how to continue what she was going to say, "thank you."

"For what?" He asked, actually paying attention to her.

"Um, for saving me earlier. I was too distracted to notice Tenten and the others approaching. If it wasn't for you, I would've been hit with that kunai." She spat out.

"You don't have to thank me for anything. That was just...a reflex." His eyes diverted from hers, sending a painful pang to her heart.

"Just a reflex?" She muttered under her breath. "Anyway, I still wanted to thank you."

Silence.

She sighed. "Can I ask you something?"

His gaze returned to hers, but he didn't speak.

Hoping that meant he was listening, she asked anyway. "What changed your mind about returning to Konoha?"

He walked over toward the railing that prevented anyone falling into the lower levels of the new Konoha and leaned against it, looking down into the village. He let out a sigh. "Itachi," he muttered.

"You're brother? H-How could he change your mind?" She asked a bit tentatively. She knew his brother was a touchy subject, but she couldn't help and ask the question.

He remained silent for a while, almost causing Sakura to lose heart in receiving an answer, but he continued. "I thought it was all a dream, but every time I looked at myself, I knew it was reality. I didn't want to admit it, but I looked awful, downright despicable. I was a person driven by revenge over things that happened in the past. Sure, what happened to my clan still haunts and angers me everyday, but...I guess if I was in Konoha's position...no, I still wouldn't do it." He paused before continuing, "When I was in my coma, it gave me time to think. It felt as if my mind had split between two different people and they were at battle with each other. With every blow, it brought a painful memory or a happy one, and at first, I thought they would never end or give up. Finally, one side had won and I thought that everything would go back to normal, but after that fight came a voice. It was Itachi. I knew he was dead but he seemed so real. We talked and then I thought I died, but he reassured that I wasn't dead. When he was done speaking with me, he stayed there with me in the dark as I tried to figure out what to do next. As I thought, those memories that won the first battle came back and then I heard another voice."

He turned around to face her as Sakura's heart continued to pound harder and louder in her ears. "It was your voice, Sakura, that I heard. You spoke of dreams and everyday things. It made me want to see them for myself, but before I woke up, Itachi told me one last thing: 'A new day is approaching and you can either embrace it and be welcomed warmly or you can turn your back on it and be cast in its shadow for eternity.'"

"W-What are you trying to say?" She asked, though she had a good idea already.

Sasuke sighed once more and closed his eyes. "I'm taking my brother's advice once more and I'm going to embrace this new day, even if it doesn't want to greet me."

"Oh, Sasuke!" She was too overjoyed to contain herself. Sakura ran at him and embraced him as her body collided with his and she wrapped her arms around his waist while she buried her face in his chest. She tried hiding her tears, but they silently rolled down her cheeks and stained his shirt.

He was a bit surprised at the embrace, but didn't push her away though he didn't return the embrace. Instead, he hesitated at what to do as he looked down at her. She was nuzzled comfortably into his chest, leaving her back to any who walked by. If they were in battle, she would be their first target as a back turned is considered easy victory. But they weren't at battle or war anymore, and so he realized that there would be no reason for her to be cautious anymore. Though he knew they weren't at war anymore, he couldn't help but wonder why his entire body was on high alert and his adrenaline was pumping, causing his heart to beat faster in his chest.

"Oh, Sasuke...I'm so...happy."

"Happy?"

"The old you wouldn't listen to anyone, but now you're willing to move forward. You don't know how happy that makes me." She cried into his chest.

"Sakura..." he whispered.

"Well now, isn't this a pretty picture?"

Immediately, Sakura detached herself from him and turned around. She had nothing to be worried about as she knew this person too well.

"Kakashi-sensei, what are you doing here?" She asked as she wiped under her eyes, making sure that her mascara didn't run.

Even though she couldn't see his face, she knew he was smiling. "Oh, I was just out for a walk. I should really be asking you two that question, though."

"We were just showing Sasuke around the village since it's been rebuilt." She told him.

"We?"

"Oh, uh, well Naruto and Sai just left but they'll be coming back."

"Well, isn't it nice to see Team Seven back together? I'm sorry I can't stay long." He told them.

"Why not?" She asked.

He sighed. "Well, you see, I left Ank—"

"Kakashi! There you are!"

Anko was approaching as she carried something in her arms. It looked like a bundle of blankets. Sakura also noticed that she had changed in appearance since the last time she saw her. Anko's hair, which was usually tied up into a spiky ponytail, was now let down so that her violet locks hung at her shoulders. She was also wearing a light pink t-shirt with a Konoha symbol stitched to the front along with black pants that cut around her ankles, though she did wear her usual sandals.

When she finally reached the three shinobi, she was panting and out of breath. Sakura remembered the state that Anko was in after the war. Because Kabuto had drained an inconsiderable amount of chakra from her body, she was forced to retire early. She's no longer a shinobi, but she still has enough chakra to keep Kakashi in line. "Finally, I caught up to you. You have to stop wandering off." She muttered under her breath.

"Anko-san," Sakura pointed at the bundle of blankets, "is that who I think it is?" She asked.

She nodded and fixed the bundle in her arms so that a tiny face stood out. He appeared to be sleeping soundlessly in her arms. His hair was coming in violet, but because he had his hands covering the lower half of his face, Sakura couldn't see the child's face too well. "This is Obito." She told them.

"He's gotten so big!" Sakura amazed. "How long has it been? A year?"

"Yup. He'll be a year in two weeks," Anko gazed down at the little boy's face with loving and tender eyes before shuffling him back into one of her arms and grasping Kakashi's hand with her free hand, "right dear?"

"Kakashi, that's your son?" Sasuke asked.

He nodded. "Yup. He's an interesting little fellow. It's a shame that he's asleep."

"Come on, dear. We have to go home before he wakes up." Anko told him, using her remaining physical strength to pull Kakashi by his lone hand. Though she didn't have enough chakra to be a shinobi anymore, it didn't mean that she didn't have enough physical strength to use at her disposal. "It was nice you two again!" She called back.

Sakura simply waved as she sensed her sensei's trepidation because of his wife. Everything between those two had happened so fast even Sakura was clueless as to what happened, though that didn't mean she wasn't happy for her old teacher. She had seen both of them grow differently as soon as they became parents, but from time to time, she could still see Anko's former personality show along with Kakashi's. She also felt as though they'd make great parents for their son.

"Since when did that happen?" Sasuke asked, snapping Sakura out of her thoughts.

"About a couple of years ago. Anko-san lost most of her chakra and Kakashi-sensei was there to comfort her. I don't know exactly how it happened, but when their son was born, I was one of the medical-nins on staff." She explained. "You know, you'd be surprised at all of the changes you've missed."

"I don't know. So far that I've seen, there's only been a few changes." He said a bit distantly.

"Only a few..." she repeated under her breath. "Like what?"

"The layout of this village, first of all, and the second," his eyes locked onto hers this time, "is you."

"Me?" Her heart picked up its pulse as it raced in her chest and ears. She could feel the heat run to her cheeks but hoped that it wouldn't give her away. "How have I changed?"

"You've grown up."

She grew up? What was that supposed to mean? Was it good or bad? Did he like that she grew up or was it sign that she had still been childish until now? These were some of the thoughts that ran through Sakura's head. She wasn't sure how to handle his comment nor could she even ask what he had meant. His statement had left her speechless.

But slowly, she had found some words to release. "I...don't understand."

"You don't have to." He pushed off from the railing and closed the little space that remained between him and Sakura.

He cupped his hand under her chin, bringing her eyes to meet his before bringing her face closer to his. She watched in slow motion as his lips connected with hers. Every night she had dreamt that this would happen and when it finally does, it's nothing like she imagined. It was better. She had thought he'd be rough, but instead, he was gentle to the touch, almost tender. As their lips moved in sync, his hand had removed itself from under her chin and started to make its way to the back of her head, keeping it in place while his other hand started to move toward her waist.

Her hands, on the other hand, were limp for what seemed like ages. It wasn't until she felt his second hand move toward her waist that she started to move her own. Both of her hands moved to wrap around his neck, causing the hand at the back of her head to move down to waist to meet its twin. She started to kiss him back now, which in turn gave him permission to use a little more force. Now the kiss had deepened and grew rougher, like she had originally thought, and she could feel his hands start to move under her shirt.

By the feel of his hands on her back, she could tell how hard he had trained all those years ago. The callouses were a sign of this. She was also surprised at how chilled his fingers were compared to her own body heat, but maybe that was because she was the one generating the most heat. Not wanting to be left behind, she moved her hands to his head so that she could grab fistfuls of his hair, which caused him to let a small grunt vibrate through his throat to his lips and then travel to her own lips and throat through their joint entanglement. She could feel a smile start to form at the corners of her mouth, and he must've felt it too because then she started to feel his own smirk start to form at his corners.

They eventually broke apart to catch their breaths. This allowed Sasuke to be the first to speak as Sakura only continue to gasp for air. "Sakura..." he whispered.

"Sas...uke..." she panted.

"This...will surely be...a day to remember." He told her before bringing her closer, if that was possible, and bring her back to the sensuality that was their moment of passion.

* * *

><p>"Ino-chan, you're truly a genius." Naruto muttered from atop of a nearby house. He along with Sai, Ino, and Hinata had watched the entire scene between Sakura and Sasuke play out, and though he did have some doubts about the plan, it succeeded in the end.<p>

"You'd be surprised at some of the things that I've accomplished, right Sai-kun?" Ino held onto the ANBU's arm and nuzzled into his bicep.

Sai had one of his books open to a page that was buried deep within its bindings as he looked from Sakura and Sasuke to Ino who was clinging to his arm. _'PDA stands for Public Display of Affection. This would include a kiss, holding hands, or any intimate contact while in public. These are sure fire signs of couples who share a deep connection with each other.'_ he read to himself before muttering under his breath, "I see..."

"N-Naruto-kun...you don't mind that kind of stuff?" Hinata muttered to herself while her hand was still in his.

"Hm? What did you say?" He asked.

"N-Nothing."

"Aw, Hinata, don't be shy. You can tell me anything." He gave her his signature smile.

"Oh, well, um..." She was blushing.

"Wait. I get it." He turned her around so that she was facing him and carefully lifted her chin up to meet him. "I know what you're trying to say." He muttered before giving her a gentle kiss on the lips.

* * *

><p>First, I would like to say, Happy Birthday Sasuke-kun! :D<p>

Second, this chapter took a little longer than I had hoped but I'm okay with how it turned out. When I was initially writing this chapter, I had no idea it would end like this, but not to worry! Everything will come back to my original thoughts sooner or later (hopefully sooner rather than later :D).

Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed my SasuSaku moment there along with the InoSai and NaruHina at the end. I also added KakAnko 'cause their son, Obito, that I just featured is another of my endless Next Generation OC's that will have their own story all in due time. You could consider this his debut along with some more of my next gen OC's later on. There will also be more couplings later on, but I'm trying to introduce them slowly so that I can spend a little more time on SasuSaku for now.

Please comment on this chapter because I feel that it gets a little weird in the middle writing wise. If you were wondering where Naruto went in the beginning, I did that on purpose. I was building so much tension between the large gathering of people that I needed some comic relief and of course Naruto was the perfect person to bring it.

Also, I'm experiencing a little difficulties in writing so if you have any ideas that you think would go with this story, I'll take them into consideration. Plus, I'm always open to feature other people's OC's if they want. In fact, my friend had asked me the other day if I could feature one of her OC's and I agreed. Don't be afraid to ask and comment! :)


	6. Love in Life and Death

Love in Life and Death

3 months later...

"Do you have his IV ready yet, Ino?" Sakura called to her partner.

"Right behind you, Sakura. Yuki, hurry up with those bandages!" Ino's voice could carry three floors if she wanted it to.

"Right!" Yuki could hear her senpai from several rooms over. She had to apply her skilled footwork from her days on the front line in order to dodge the numerous patients that seemed to be overthrowing the hospital.

She managed to enter the room only a few seconds after Ino called for her with her arms full of fresh bandages for their latest patient. There had been a caravan of people only a few miles from the village when numerous exploding tags went off. Since Konoha was the closest, the village had no choice but to hospitalize nearly the entire caravan, though there were still a lot more people back at the site because they were too injured to be transported. That's where they sent most of their medical ninja, leaving Sakura, Ino, Yuki, and Mai the only experienced medical ninja left in Konoha.

"Alright, Ino, I'm leaving this guy to you. I have to see how Mai's doing." Sakura was the one left in charge since she was the most experienced, not counting Mai since she had only been apart of the village for the past three months.

"Yuki, go see the next patient. I can handle the rest from here." Ino barked.

The redhead simply nodded and left the room to find her next patient. Sakura would've told Ino not to bark out orders on her own, but she had to agree with the blonde's decision. Since they were low on medical-nin, every person who could properly address a wound was welcome to help. Sakura knew that Tsunade and Shizune would've been on call as well if they weren't held up back at the office filling out piles upon piles of paperwork.

Usually, Yuki wasn't the most coordinated person on call, but whenever her adrenaline started to flow rapidly through her veins and her breathing got caught in her throat, it was like she transformed into an entirely new person. Not a single thing could destroy her focus—

"Lemme go!"

—Well, almost anything. She ducked her head into the room where she heard the voice from. Yuki would've known the sound of Kiba's voice from anywhere and as she peered into his room, she saw that he was trying to break free from both Shino's and Hinata's hold.

"Kiba-kun, you have to stay down." Hinata told her old teammate.

"I agree. It's not wise to be struggling right now." Shino agreed.

"Hinata-san and Shino-kun, what's wrong with Kiba-kun?" Yuki asked.

"We were assigned to escort the caravan and Kiba had taken a considerable amount of damage." Shino explained.

"Shut up, Shino! I'm fine!" Kiba snarled.

Yuki could see that he was far from fine. From her point of view at the moment, she could see that he had at least fractured his right arm, probably broken a few ribs, and dislocated his left leg from its socket besides all of the cuts and bruises that were clearly visible. And that was only what she could see from the outside. He most likely also had internal injuries and would require a few stitches. Though he was this battered, Yuki had trouble containing her cheeks from flaring up into a scorching blush.

"Y-You should l-let me take a l-look." She stammered uncontrollably.

"I don't need any help! Akamaru's the one who needs attention!" He yelled.

"Akamaru? W-Where is he?" She asked.

"We couldn't carry both Kiba-kun and Akamaru-kun back, and Akamaru-kun wouldn't budge from his spot. So we ended up taking Kiba-kun only." Hinata admitted sheepishly.

"S-So Akamaru is still out there?" It was a stupid question—she knew that—but the question had came out of her mouth before she could think about what she had said.

"Yes, goddammit!" Kiba had broken through Hinata's hold while she was distracted and abruptly sat up. He let out another shout of pain but kept on moving as he swung his feet over the side of the bed.

Yuki had finally snapped back into her previous mode, and as a medical ninja, she wouldn't let a sick or injured patient leave her care so recklessly. "Hyoton: Furizu," she stuck her palm out as if she was blowing a kiss to Kiba and blew especially cold air on him. Because he had open wounds, her kekkei genkai took a greater affect on him than usual as it froze him in place. After restraining him, Yuki simply applied a bit of pressure on his chest and pushed him back down on his bed.

She turned to face Shino and Hinata, "Go back and fetch Akamaru. I'm afraid that there aren't any veterinarians here, but I've mended a few fractures in nin-ken before."

"Understood," nodded Shino.

"Take care of Kiba-kun, Yuki-san." Hinata said before following Shino out of the room.

Yuki turned back around to face Kiba who still remained frozen, though she didn't hit him hard enough with the jutsu's full effect. She placed her hands on her hips and shot him a nasty look. He flinched, though insignificantly, and it nearly caused her to lose control of her more confident self because of how funny the situation was. Though she knew that the situation wasn't really funny, the fact that she could cause Kiba to flinch because of her was the funny part.

"Inuzuka Kiba," she tried to speak authoritatively, "as your caretaker, I swear if you don't lay back down, I'll have no choice but to force you into cooperation."

He gulped and tried his best to lay back down. She could see that he was trying to move back, and because of her jutsu he was having a hard time, so she decided to help him out. After letting out a much needed sigh, she walked over and gently pressed the palm of her hand on his chest. By applying a bit of force, she easily unfroze his body which allowed him to move a bit more freely.

"Now, let me have a look at your wounds while we wait for Akamaru, shall we?" She gave him a slight smile to redeem herself from her previous harshness. "Does any of this give you pain?" She asked as she flexed his right arm.

"Yeow!" He cried.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! Don't worry, I can handle that." After putting that arm in a splint, she got to work on his chest. She wasn't sure if he had any internal damage and decided that that was the most important thing right now. By concentrating her chakra in her palms, she was able cast the familiar greenish glow around her hands and hovered them over his chest. She slowly moved them down from his upper torso all the way down to his hips.

Yuki was relieved to find that he didn't have any internal injuries, but even though that was a relief, there were still his other injuries. After her scan of his torso, she found out that he did have a few broken ribs which could be sustained by painkillers but it'll take some time for those wounds to heal on their own. For the moment, though, Kiba's dislocated leg gave her the most concern.

"Kiba-kun, you have a dislocated leg." She told him.

"Okay. So what?" He was completely clueless even though he's been a ninja for nearly his entire life.

"So that means I'm gonna have to put it back into place. It's not going to be very enjoyable." She bit her lip out of sympathy. Yuki, as a ninja herself, has had many dislocations in her career and understood the pain of relocating limbs. It was true that it was going to be painful.

"I don't care just hurry up. Akamaru needs me." He mumbled. It was clear in his eyes that he knew how painful it was going to be.

She nodded. He was right after all. Shino and Hinata were on their way with Akamaru and she knew that Kiba wasn't going to cooperate if he was here, so she had to get all of his injuries done with while she still had a chance. Yuki made sure that she had a good hold on his left thigh as she prepared herself to relocate his leg back into its socket. Without any warning, she lifted his leg, pulled out, and then pushed it in as far as she could—all the while Kiba was screaming and cursing.

"I'm so sorry, Kiba-kun." Yuki told him as she performed her basic medical ninjutsu over his leg—making sure that it was securely in place.

"Don't worry about it." He grunted. "Is that all?"

She shook her head and he closed his eyes out of pain, though he didn't pass out. Yuki made her way over to his head so that she could stitch up the big gash in his cheek and smaller cuts on his forehead. She enjoyed sewing in her free time and because of this, whenever she would stitch up a patient the wound would look nearly invisible since she used chakra thread and the wound would be closed up pretty cleanly. Because of this skill, she was usually recommended to do all the stitching in the hospital which would make her feel more needed. She loved being needed.

"Alright, sit up." She told him.

He carefully brought himself into a sitting position as his hand immediately went to where his broken ribs were. That was a definite sign that those ribs were broken.

"It's okay. I'm going to take care of all of those." She gave him a reassuring smile in order to take his mind off all of what was going on. "Here, let me help you with your sh-shirt."

She unzipped his jacket and saw the mesh shirt underneath. Though it was another layer of clothing, she could still see his bare torso because of the material but she still needed to remove that layer as well. Yuki could see faint scars all over his chest, shoulders, and sides which were clear signs of his shinobi career and easily detected the fresher wounds on his body. She ran her palms over those and they closed easily, but the broken ribs inside his body were the ones that had attracted her attention. After she bandaged his torso—to keep him from moving around too much—she applied as much medical ninjutsu as possible to his ribs. They wouldn't heal as easily as the small cuts and bruises, but at least it'll speed up the healing process.

"There," she said a bit proudly. "That should do it. Alright, you can lay back down now."

After he did what he was told, he softly said, "Thank you."

"Huh?"

"Thank you." He repeated, though she felt that he was reluctant to do so.

"Oh, uh, um, K-Kiba-kun...i-it w-was nothing. I w-was only d-doing my j-job." She stammered, her once confident self evaporated from her body. Now she was reduced to her usual blubbering self whenever in his presence.

"No, not that. I wanted to thank you for agreeing to help Akamaru. If anything were to happen to him, I don't think I could ever forgive myself." He admitted. Yuki could tell that he was exhausted because right after that he managed to doze off.

"Don't say that Kiba-kun." She whispered to herself. "I would've helped Akamaru even if I wasn't a medical ninja."

* * *

><p>Sakura was completely stunned at how many people had been injured during that attack on the caravan. She was supposed be helping Mai, but on her way to help her new friend, she had gotten distracted with helping out all of the sick and injured that still needed to be attended. After delay upon delay because of more incoming patients, she had finally reached the room where Mai was working on patients and like always she was amazed by the woman.<p>

The day Mai had told her she wanted to be apart of Konoha had surprised her. She would've thought that she would've missed her family and friends back at home, but it wasn't until recently—she had guessed—that it was probably because of those people it gave her the reason to drive her away. In fact, since she's joined the ranks of Konoha, Sakura had seen a different side of her. She was starting to open up to the people in the village, mostly Shikamaru and herself though besides Ziom of course. Mai was an amazing medical ninja and since she's joined the hospital staff, there had been very minimal problems and more cures distributed.

"What are you doing standing there, Sakura? I could use some help with this one." Mai's voice broke through her thoughts and snapped her back into action.

"Right, what can I help you with?" She asked.

"I need more bandages, his IV needs to be changed, she needs stitching, and I need those three vials over there." She pointed to three bottles of pinkish liquid that were on the other side of the room while she stitched up another patient. It looked as though she'd been caring for five patients at once which meant that Sakura had chosen the right decision on coming to her aid.

"Alright, leave it to me." Sakura began to work her magic.

With both Mai and Sakura working on all of these patients, it was faster and a lot easier than when it was only one person. Though if this had happened a few months ago, Sakura wouldn't have been able to admit that it was mostly because of Mai that these patients survived that awful attack. She had the stamina of ten men when it came to her position as a medical-nin which would astound Sakura at some points, though in Mai's own medical condition she shouldn't be putting herself in this kind of situation much longer.

Sakura was bandaging her last patient when she spoke to the white haired woman beside her, "How are you doing since you found out?"

Mai remained silent, causing Sakura to look over at her. Her complexion had paled and her violet eyes lost their once radiant tint. These signs were either because of her disease or her newfound condition. "I...don't know how...to handle it." She choked out.

"Well, have you told anyone besides me? I mean, I know why you told me first but don't you think you should have told someone more important?"

"I don't know how to tell him though, Sakura." She seemed frantic as she her breath began to pour out rapidly from her mouth. "What if this happened between you and Sasuke? How would he handle it?"

That was a hard question to answer for Sakura. Her new relationship with Sasuke was a bit strange and the most they'd do would kiss but in private. Sometimes she'd sense that he'd want more from her, but every time that she'd make up her mind about the topic, he wouldn't seem interested. He was definitely still bothered by something and though she was trying to give him some space, she was a bit anxious to find out what was on his mind. But this wasn't about her. This time she was talking to Mai about her friend's problems and not hers so she had be as supportive as possible.

"I don't know how Sasuke would handle it, but I do know how Ziom would handle it." She replied, trying to get Sasuke out of her mind for now.

"Oh really...and how do you think he'd handle it?" Mai asked with her arms across her chest.

Sakura was finished with the man's bandages and walked over to the sink to wash off. She was trying to think of something to say when someone had entered the room.

"Shikamaru?" Mai sounded surprise as her recent agitation seemed to have vanished.

"Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but..." He started.

"But there's going to be more people coming in." Sakura finished for him.

He simply closed his eyes and sighed. "Yeah, but luckily it won't be as many as the last bunch. Hokage-sama told me that you four could return home to get rest, but if you wanted to stay and help that would be appreciated."

"Thanks, Shikamaru." Mai smiled.

"Yeah, well, whatever..." He turned around to leave.

Sakura leaned in toward her friend and whispered, "You should tell him. Maybe he'll give you the reaction you want."

Mai looked nervous and scared but sighed. She couldn't argue against her friend's judgment, so she mustered all of the courage that she had and walked over to the shinobi. "Um, Shikamaru...? Can I tell you something?"

He turned around at his name, and since it was Mai who had spoken, he remained in place as he awaited for whatever she had to say.

She didn't have the courage to say it aloud so she tried to reach his ear on her tip-toes, but seeing her struggle, he had to bend down for her to reach. As she was whispering what she had to say, Sakura noticed how wide his eyes were. She'd never seen them get that wide unless he was either truly bothersome by the mission he was assigned or there was immediate danger attacking what he treasured most. This look of his was not a good sign.

Mai looked at him after she was done speaking and caught the last glimpse of his look before he tried to hide his surprise. She bit her lip and clenched her hands together. "Well?"

Shikamaru gave a lazy sigh before speaking, his composure regained, "Well, I'd tell him. This is not a matter I'd keep to myself if I was in your position." He told her.

"I thought you'd say that." She mumbled.

"See, Mai, even Shikamaru agrees with me that you should tell him. You two have been together since you've been here, and I don't think something like this is going to tear you apart." Sakura reassured her.

"Thank you, Sakura...Shikamaru. I think I'll do that." She gave a faint smile. "But before I do, Shikamaru, could I take a look at the Nara encyclopedia again? I thought I saw something yesterday, but you had to leave early." Mai asked.

He rolled his eyes but didn't refuse. She waved goodbye before leaving with the young Nara head. Because Mai was new to the village, she wasn't allowed to all of the best medical books yet but as long as she had someone from the Nara clan with her she was allowed to read their family encyclopedia which contained many herbal remedies and cures. Mai was on a major breakthrough lately with the cure of her clan's disease, Ketsueki Doku, so whenever she could she was reading that book.

Sakura felt completely exhausted, though she knew there were more people to treat. She decided that taking five minutes to sit wouldn't hurt, so she did just that. Today had gone like it normally did without any hint of a disaster like this, but that's how it was sometimes. In fact, it was because of days like this that reminded her of how human she was. It had been a long time since a disaster like this had happened and as the memories started to pour in, her five minute rest had turned into a three hour nap.

"Sakura...Sakura..." A soft voice whispered to her.

She awoke suddenly, her dream a blur of colors and various voices. "Who...?" She began as her eyes adjusted to the light of the room.

"Are you awake?"

Her heart had dropped a small bit as she realized it wasn't the person she'd hoped it'd be, but in any case she was still happy to see this person. Yuki was leaning over her—her auburn hair strewn out of her bun from the crazy day and her jade green eyes were a bit duller than usual, most likely caused from fatigue. There was blood splattered on her once white clothes and a few bruises could be seen along her arms and even on her cheeks. She was the essence of tired.

Sakura simply nodded as she stretched her aching body. "Thanks for waking me up. I'm sorry I left you alone with no help."

"It's fine. Shizune-sensei and Hokage-sama came to help out and we just finished with the last patient. Now they're night shift's problem." She smiled but it was clear that the action was too much for her.

"I'm glad to hear that. I guess I'll go home then." She gave one last stretch before getting back on her feet. A stinging pain struck her as she nearly fell back down in the chair, but it numbed down the longer she remained on her feet.

"You alright?" Yuki asked, concern coating her tone.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Guess I overdid myself today." She tried to laugh it off but she knew she had to get off her feet for them to work in the morning. "Good night, Yuki-chan."

"Night."

After changing out of her nurse's outfit, Sakura left the hospital feeling a bit refreshed and relieved. She had done her job to the best of her abilities today, but there were still casualties which left a heavy burden on her heart. One patient's death was especially hard on her as it filled her mind now. A woman about her age had been hit hard during the explosion. She was alive when she entered the hospital and she was about eight months pregnant. A large piece of timber had struck her in her stomach, she was losing the baby fast, and the only thing the woman was saying was, "Save my child!"

After an hour of surgery, Sakura and Ino were able to save the baby. It was a healthy baby boy with no damage from explosion, and she remembered the look of love and relief on the mother's face. She had named her son Ace and cried as the boy lay in her arms. As soon as she had her new son in her arms, the mother died of blood loss and massive internal injuries.

Sakura stopped walking to lean against a nearby building. The memory from today was too powerful to drive away and it was so saddening she was being brought to tears all over again. That poor boy would now grow up without a mother and possibly a father since no one had claimed to have been with the unnamed mother. She sank down to the ground and held her knees close to herself.

"Sakura?"

She immediately snapped her head up to see a familiar figure standing over her. She also tried to wipe away her tears so that Sasuke wouldn't see her crying, but it was all in vain since he simply grabbed her wrist. He pulled her to her feet and she snagged him in a tight embrace. Even though she knew he didn't like the public display of affection, she didn't care at this point. Her sorrow was too great to overcome by herself and she needed to feel his strength in his hold now more than ever.

He didn't say anything as he let her cry. He patted her hair and after the tears had stopped and became slow silent sobs, he pulled her away from him to see her more clearly.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, another sob starting to form in her throat.

He sighed and placed his hand under her chin to bring her eyes to meet his. Before he said anything, he stared deeply into her eyes. It was like he was trying to read her thoughts to assess the problem. "You were late coming home, so I went to the hospital." He told her, though she felt the sense he was trying to hide his emotions from her again.

"You were...worried about me?" She blinked back tears and the sobbing sensation stopped.

He remained silent, not wanting to admit the emotion.

"You were worried about me." A light smile came to her face. She wrapped her arms around his neck and stretched up on her toes to meet his face. Pressing her lips to his, she caused him a brief period of surprise as he understood what was happening.

He quickly took control of the situation as he placed his hands on her hips and lifted her in the air, allowing for her slim legs to latch around his waist. He then held her with one arm while the other trailed up her spine for his hand to soon rest behind her head. Sasuke could also feel that she was more passionate in this kiss than usual as she started to bite his lip, causing small droplets of blood to trickle back into his mouth and stain her taste of rustic metal. She also took in gasps of air every thirty seconds or so as her chest rose up and down heavily. He could sense her erratic behavior in every slight movement she made, which caused him to worry about her—though he'd never admit it.

"Sas...uke..." She panted.

His breathing had matched hers as their chests bounced off of each other with each gasp of air. Sasuke slowly released his grip on her and started to bring her back down to her feet, though her arms never left their death grip around his neck. She stared up at him and he stared down at her. He took noticed that her eyes had something within them that caught his interest and curiosity.

"Sasuke...come home with me." She whispered, though they were the only people in the street and most likely awake.

He was expecting something else but this had potential as well. He touched his forehead to hers so that he could let a tiny smirk spread across his face for only her eyes to see. "What about Mai?" He asked, though he had his suspicions that she wasn't even a factor.

"She's not coming home tonight, so there's no problem." She imitated his tone.

"You sure about this?"

"I'm inviting you. Does that answer your ques—?"

He pressed his lips to hers to shut her up. Though he couldn't use ninjutsu anymore that didn't mean he wasn't still skilled with his physical abilities. While he distracted her with his kiss, he managed to scoop her up bridal style and was already running on top of the roofs in the village at top speed. The more he ran the more he could feel her smile against his lips.

As he continued to run on the rooftops, she moved her lips away from his for just a few seconds to whisper in his ear, "I love you, Sasuke."

He'd heard her say this many times before but for a strange reason—to him—this time hearing it aloud felt different. Though he didn't say anything in return, she didn't mind. It had felt like weight had been released from her chest, so she was fine for now if he didn't return the feelings, though she knew that he really cared for her deep down.

* * *

><p>Shikamaru had offered to walk her home since she was carrying many medical books, notes, and ingredients but she declined his offer. It wasn't much of a load and he was most likely offering his help because of her current condition. She didn't want any special treatment because of her situation which must've been her stubbornness coming out of her.<p>

"There you are Mai," a very familiar sounded from behind her.

She turned around at the sound of her name, but because of the pile of stuff she was carrying, she couldn't see anyway. "Who's there? I can't see."

"Now how can you forget my voice that easily?" He was definitely who she thought he was.

Ziom took the top layer of the things she was carrying so that she could see over her pile of stuff. His hair was as dark as the night sky, but his eyes were the strangest color she'd ever seen. She knew of his clan's ability but never had she encountered the color burning in his eyes tonight. They were a bright radiant shade of pink, like gemstones, and the smile he wore only enhanced their sparkle.

"Hey, Ziom, what does the color pink mean to you?" She asked.

His smile quickly vanished and the longer they stood there, the more her arms started to hurt. "I...uh, didn't tell you that?" He tried to hide something because his tone had risen a few octaves.

"No, but could you while we walk? These things are kinda heavy." She grumbled as she started to walk.

"Here, let me get them." He offered, though his hands were already full of half of her stuff.

She had declined Shikamaru's help because he knew of her condition, but Ziom didn't. Maybe she could get away with letting him take the weight before he found out and started offering his help because of the information that he would know. She nodded and he took the weight off her hands, allowing her to walk beside him a lot easier.

"So, what does the color pink mean?" She asked, trying to bring up a conversation starter.

Ziom stopped walking and put the boxes of ingredients, the books, and Mai's notes down on the ground and walked right up to her. He cupped the back of her neck and pulled her forward so that she didn't have time to think about what was happening. After he took her by surprise, he pressed his lips to hers and completely silenced her. Her shock was felt through the kiss but after she realized what he was doing, she had softened and started to return the affection. The kiss was sweet and tender, almost gentle, and he was in complete control until he needed to breathe and released her from his hold.

"What...was that...for?" She panted, nearly breathless. It wasn't as if they'd never kissed before. In fact two months ago, Ziom had made the exact same move on her and that was that.

"The color pink can symbolize many things, but in my clan, it's the color of love." He told her.

Her head was still clouded from the surprise attack, so it took her a few seconds to put his words together. "You're not saying..." She trailed off.

"Mai," he took an intake of breath, "I love you."

She was nearly overwhelmed as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him back down to her for a returning kiss. This kiss was more deep and passionate than before but just as enjoyable. She could taste the broth of ramen on his lips from his previous meal that he must've just had. She could also smell metal from all those years working as a shinobi and the scent of pork from his ramen meal. Everything about him was warm and inviting, and if she didn't have to breathe, she'd remain like this forever.

She was the first to release as her breathing was audible along with his. Their gasps were the only sounds on the deserted street. "I...love you...too, Ziom." She said between gasps.

He closed their gap again but this time it was only an embrace. Easily, he picked her up into the air and carefully brought her back down, but she latched her legs around his waist instead. She couldn't help but to let a small smile spread across her face as Ziom mocked her expression. Mai also noticed that the tips of his hair was beginning to turn a faint pink in the moonlight.

"I have something else to tell you." She spoke softly again, hoping that he heard her.

He simply wrapped his arms around her waist and brought their bodies even closer together. The patient glow in his eyes told her that he was listening.

"I'm pregnant."

* * *

><p>I'm soooooooo sorry that I haven't posted any new chapters in a while, but I have been preoccupied with other things lately. In fact, this was supposed to be out last week but I had gone to camp so the whole thing was put a week behind. While I was at camp, I had hoped to get some ideas on paper, but every time I went back to the cabins, I was so tired and exhausted that I couldn't do anything but brush my teeth, shower, and sleep.<p>

Anyways, since I'm sorry about not updating this, I decided to make this chapter a bit longer than planned. Also I will explain a few things:

1. Yes, three months is definitely a huge time skip for fanfics unless details are explained. (Which I've yet to reveal.)

2. Yes, for most of part one of this, it was in Yuki's perspective. (If you wanna say that.)

3. If you believed that Sasuke and Sakura went back to Sakura's place to have sex, then you're right. I've written sex scenes in the past (check my stuff) but I didn't want to because this story is more public on DA, so...yeah...I don't know how to do stuff like that and get away with it. Maybe I'll write one later and put it on , but you'd have to check it out later.

4. Yes, Mai and Ziom are together. If you couldn't see that coming, then you are BLIND!

5. This relates to the above answer, yes, the baby daddy is Ziom.

So...yeah...I left you with a cliff hanger and you'll like it! I'll try to post another as soon as possible but school is coming up and the band season is approaching so I don't know how...regularly...I'll be.

If you wanna know more about my OC characters, check me out on .com. I'm also animeinsanity112989 there, so enjoy! :)


	7. Rain

Rain

Sasuke couldn't sleep. The night was too quiet for sleep and so he took refuge up on the roof of Sakura's apartment building. He could see the entire village from up there like a bird he wished to spread his wings. The sky was still covered in a deep blackness with only the twinkling of the stars to light the streets below. In the distance, he could see that the stars were starting to fade but no light was shining, so it must've meant that a storm was on its way. He released a sigh as he took to his thoughts.

Years ago if he would've known that this night was going to happen, he would've never believed it. Hell, he still had a hard time believing it. The entire moment had felt so surreal and if it wasn't for the exhaustion that he felt, he would have believed he was dreaming.

'What am I doing here,' he asked himself. A chill ran down his spine as his skin started to prickle up from the sudden electricity in the air. It was a sensation he hadn't experienced in a long time, and even though he was practically stripped of all his chakra, he couldn't help but to get excited. A small smile worked its way on his face at the feeling. 'This storm's gonna be big...' he sighed and breathed in the currently still air.

The late night air was refreshing and several times in the past he would stay awake to experience this same sensation of cleansing. His mind would be open and ready to except strategies to keep going in his quest for vengeance...but that was in the past. Now, the night air was the only thing keeping him at peace. He knew he wasn't locked up anymore, but it still felt like it since his movements were restricted—though he couldn't really complain. His only goal right now was to wait out his probation and then he'd be free to do whatever he liked, but what was that again? His life really had no meaning right now.

He sighed as his thoughts fought each other for recognition. Since he was alone right now, he needed to confirm his biggest question...Why was he alive? There was no point in his life right now. He'd killed his only family left, gotten revenge on at least one elder in Konoha, and even fought until his heart's content with that dobe, but what was left for him now? Just then a flash of pink struck his mind like the lightning in the distance. Pink...Sakura...Was she really the only thing keeping him alive?

Sure, she'd grown a lot since their last confrontation, but was she really strong enough to be with him? It seemed that every person that has ever meant something to him had all slipped away from him, and how could he face himself if anything happened to her? Wait, what was he saying? Were they really together? Sure, the sex was amazing, but was that physical attraction all that was keeping him grounded to her? He sighed again, this time in exasperation. No, of course it wasn't the only thing. Was it because she saved his life? No, that wasn't it either because she would've done that for any patient, so what was it? He definitely knew it wasn't because she believed in him because that dobe, Naruto, also felt the same way and if that was the reason then he'd be at that idiot's place instead of Sakura's. So what the hell was it that kept him bound to her?

He could feel a headache coming on and decided that the night air wasn't helping one bit. So, with that question hanging in the air, he decided to go back down to her place and return to bed. Maybe sleep would improve his thinking, and then he could return to the question with a fresh mind and hopefully an answer.

* * *

><p>Sakura turned over in her sleep and noticed that the bed felt colder. Not wanting to fully wake up from her sleep, she simply rolled over and felt around her. She had expected to feel a warm body beside her, but instead there was nothing. Maybe she imagined something...so she turned over on her other side and did the exact same thing but the same feeling of nothingness came up again. Now that she knew she was alone in bed, she had no choice but to wake up.<p>

Groggily, she sat up—making sure that the covers were still around her still naked body—and started to rub her eyes. The door started to creak open and so she turned her head at the noise. "Sas...uke..is that you...?" She yawned.

"Go back to sleep, Sakura." His voice was soft as if he was speaking to a child.

"Where did you go?" She asked as she laid back down onto the bed.

Sakura could feel his weight make the bed sink in, slightly, as he crawled in beside her. He pulled the blanket over her shoulders as he slung one arm over her stomach and placed his head on hers. She curled under his touch and snuggled into his stomach as his arm instinctively grew tighter on her midsection. Their breathing had started to synchronize with each other as Sakura's eyes grew heavier and heavier, but before she blacked out into her dreamless sleep once more, she wanted to hear his answer.

He could tell that she hadn't fallen asleep yet, so he decided to continue the conversation in the same hushed tone, though they were the only people in the apartment. "I was just out getting some fresh air."

"Is...something bothering you?" She yawned again.

"Not exactly..."

"What's wrong?"

"You're not falling asleep. That's what's wrong." Though it normally would've sounded harsh, he didn't sound the least bit angry. In fact, he sounded like he had a smirk on his face.

"I'm not tired anymore." She tried to stifle a yawn.

"Really? I can easily fix that." He managed to roll Sakura onto her back while he hovered above her body. She was still covered by the blanket but that wasn't going to be for long.

Her eyes fluttered open and a giant crimson blush appeared on her cheeks at the sight and predicament she was in. He gently came down onto his elbows so that their faces were now inches apart. She could feel the heat of his breathing as it bounced off of her skin, and as he was now position, she brought her arms up and around his neck—running her hands through his luscious black hair. He smirked against her lips before forcing her mouth to open. Sakura was immediately lost in his touch and instinctively tightened her arms around his neck so that she locked him into place, only allowing him to breathe every few seconds.

She could feel her heart beat rapidly in her chest after every breath she could take, and since Sasuke's chest was directly above hers, she could also feel his heart pounding in his chest. It was hard to believe that he was just as human as she was, but when they were this close, she was reminded just how human he really was. The beating of his heart against hers, right now, was the perfect example of that kind of moment. So, if he was as human as she thought he was right now, then maybe she could pull some actual human emotions from him.

"Sasuke..." She panted as he diverted from her mouth for air. He was now focusing on trailing kisses up and down her neck.

"Hm?" He didn't say it aloud, but she could feel the response along her neck.

"What are you thinking?"

"What do you mean?" He responded as he was making his way back up to capture her mouth.

"Right now, what is going through your mind?" She wanted to stop his actions so that he couldn't distract her, so she grabbed his face with her hands and held his eyes steady with her gaze.

Sasuke sighed, "You're spoiling the mood. That's what I'm thinking."

"Be serious."

"I am serious."

She kissed him, and though her first instinct was to continue, she had to push past that in order to get a response from him. "What about that? How'd that make you feel?"

"Why are you asking me all of this, Sakura?" Exhaustion was starting to be clear in his eyes now that he wasn't putting energy into the previous physical contact.

"I guess I'm just...curious." She shrugged and released her hands from his face. "In the past three months, you haven't said a word about yourself. I just don't want you to go stir crazy is all."

"Is that all you're concerned about?" He smirked. "Don't worry about me. I'm fine."

"Are you sure? Because, you know, I don't mind listening to whatever you have to say."

Sasuke started to lose feeling in his arms, and so he rolled onto his back but brought Sakura close to his side. She slung an arm over his stomach and buried her head in the crook of his neck while his arm framed protectively around her body. His other arm was safely tucked under his head while his eyes were focused on the ceiling. Sakura was starting to feel tired again but tried to stifle a yawn, though to no avail.

"You're tired. I'll tell you some other time." He returned to his hushed tone.

"No...I'm...fine..." Sakura was starting to drift off into sleep, despite her efforts of staying awake.

Sasuke gave one last smirk before giving her a soft kiss on the top of her head before she completely lost consciousness.

* * *

><p>It was a knock at her front door that finally woke her up. She wasn't expecting anyone today, since it was her day off, but at the same time, she didn't know if anyone was checking up on Sasuke since he wasn't at home last night. Sakura could still feel Sasuke's warmth around her, though they'd changed positions during the night and were now curled up with each other. This moment was complete bliss for her as she closed her eyes and pretended no one was at the door.<p>

There was another knock and this time it was much louder. Trying not to wake Sasuke, she shifted around to catch a good look at his sleeping face. This face was much more innocent and pure than when he was awake. She simply smiled at him and lightly gave him a kiss on the cheek before wiggling out of his hold. Sakura was careful not to disturb him, and after a few careful seconds, she managed to get out of his arms and out of the bed.

She was still naked from the night's events and decided that it was best to answer the door in clothes, so she put on whatever articles of clothing she could find, which was simply Sasuke's black t-shirt he'd been wearing and a pair of panties from her drawers. The shirt was big enough to cover her up, so she decided she was decent, though there was another knock at the door. She looked back at Sasuke to make sure he was still sleeping and to her satisfaction he was a heavy sleeper.

When she finally answered the door, she was surprised to see Ziom there. His raven black hair was pulled back like normal and he wore his usual mid-cut, sleeveless blue shirt with black pants. He had two swords strapped to his back and though he was supposed to wear his headband, he never did. Seeing this appearance, she knew that he'd come here on business instead of recreation like he sometimes did.

"Ziom, what are you doing here?" She kept her voice down so that Sasuke wouldn't wake up in the next room.

"Hokage-sama sent me to find you." He was a bit rude this morning, but he did try to keep his voice down, seeing that Sakura had done so in the first place.

"What does she want with me? It's my day off." Sakura tried not to pout in front of him, but there was no hiding emotions from Ziom of all people.

He sighed and it wasn't until he did so with great exasperation that she'd noticed something different about him. His eyes, which were normally a bright golden amber, were now a dull copper. She knew most of his color meanings that went with his eyes, but never had she seen them like this nor had he ever told her about it. Perhaps it meant that he was tired, seeing that there were dark bruises under his eyes.

"I don't know what she wants, but she has requested an audience with us." He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against her doorjamb.

"Fine, then let me get dressed. One moment," she closed the door and hurried inside to scribble down on a piece of paper where she was going. She then got dressed as fast as possible and placed the piece of paper on her pillow beside Sasuke, hoping that he wouldn't have to read it. Maybe the meeting wouldn't take long and she'd be back before he'd wake up. After she did all that, Sakura returned to Ziom, "Alright, let's go."

Ziom must've not wanted to waste time as he had took off towards the Hokage's office without a single word of warning. This had thrown Sakura off guard and it took her a little bit of time to catch up to his great speed, but eventually she was running on the rooftops right next to him. She tried looking at his face again and saw the same puzzling look in his eyes as if his mind was wandering somewhere differently. And then it hit her. Mai must've told him last night about her...condition.

She originally didn't want to say anything, but the silence was starting to get her. "Ziom, did Mai tell you?" Hopefully, if she told him, then he would know what she was referring to, and if he didn't know, then hopefully he wouldn't ask what she meant.

He was still silent for a while and just when Sakura had given up hope on a conversation, he finally spoke. "Yeah, I didn't sleep at all last night."

"Why's that? Wouldn't you be happy about the news?"

"Of course I'm happy, but something keeps turning in my gut and I get a bad feeling about this. My life isn't exactly full of happy moments." He muttered the last part, but Sakura heard him.

"Ignore that feeling 'cause everything'll be alright." She told him. "Just because you can't remember any happy memories doesn't mean that you didn't have any. I see the way Mai brings you joy and just think about a future together with her. I've seen your eyes turn pink whenever she's around."

He looked at her then with a questioning look on his face as if to ask when she'd seen his eyes like that, but they had already arrived at the Hokage's building. Sakura wanted to get this meeting over with as soon as possible so she entered first with the stunned Ziom right behind her. When they arrived in front of Tsunade's office, she didn't wait for the 'okay' to enter and instead made a rather noisy entrance. Ziom simply smirked at the way Sakura entered the Hokage's office.

"Sakura! You should really learn how to knock." Tsunade looked surprised at first but quickly regained her composure.

"I'm sorry, Tsunade-sama, but I'll learn how to knock when you remember that it's my day off." She didn't want to sound pissed in front of her master, but her temper usually found a way to show itself in the worst situations.

"If I were you, Sakura, I would keep that temper of yours in check while we have a guest in our village." Tsunade told her.

Because of Sakura's rather noisy entrance, she hadn't recognized that there was somebody standing at the Hokage's side. The woman standing there was strikingly beautiful with sharp, angle features that were very prominent in her face. Her eyes were a rich, black tone that showed wondrous depth like the night sky and her silky raven hair matched that of her eyes. Because of her rather dark features, this caused her skin to look paler than a spirit trapped in a snowstorm. She wore some expensive looking kimono with vibrant colors and intricate designs, which only showed how wealthy this woman was as well as her beauty. Sakura was taken aback by this woman's appearance and quickly prostrated herself in hopes to redeem her actions.

"It's okay, Sakura." Tsunade told her and she fixed herself back into an upright position. "This is Damnitake Tchakara from the Land of Shadows. She was in charge of the caravan before the explosion and is also the Shadow Daimyo's daughter."

"Please, Tsunade-san, you don't have to tell them that. Well, at least not Zi-kun." She spoke with precise articulation, making every vowel and letter clear as a bell. Her speech was definitely a sign of her wealth and upbringing.

Sakura looked from Tchakara to Ziom and couldn't believe that he would know her. She was practically royalty in his land, and last time she checked, royalty never mixed in with their commoners. Although, from the look of surprise on his face, she wasn't quite sure if he even remembered her.

"What's the matter, Zi-kun? Don't you remember me?" Her face had slightly sunken with her disappointment, but it quickly faded as she shot him a gentle smile. "I understand if you've forgotten my face. It has been ten years after all, and I know I don't look like I used to."

Ziom quickly bowed, trying not to upset her, and softly spoke. "Forgive me, my lady, I don't mean to disrespect you when I say this, but I have blocked most of my memory from when I lived in the Land of Shadows and I would like to not think about that place ever again."

"It doesn't concern me of what you care about the village or my father as long as it doesn't ruin our friendship, Zi-kun."

Normally, Sakura would've been really happy and almost moved to tears in a situation like this, but at the moment it wasn't reaching her mind. There was only one thing on her mind and he wasn't here, so she couldn't wait any longer. "I don't mean to be rude, Tsunade-sama, but it is my day off. Could you please tell me why you summoned me here?"

"Of course, Sakura. Because Tchakara-sama was the reason behind the caravan, she wanted to come here personally to thank you for all of your help." Tsunade began.

"Yes, Sakura-chan, I am greatly honored that it was you who saved my people. If there weren't medical ninjas like you in this village, I don't think any of my people would've survived that horrible explosion. I am just truly happy that you did all that you could for them." Tchakara then bowed toward Sakura in appreciation, causing the said kunoichi to feel a bit awkward at the action. It wasn't every day that royalty bowed their head for ninja.

"Oh, no, please, there's no need for that. I was just simply doing my job." She rubbed the back of her head in slight embarrassment.

"Please, I insist. I've never seen someone work as hard as you did yesterday, and with that I had to come here personally to say thank you on behalf of myself and my people."

"Oh, uh, well, if you insist...then, um, thank you, Tchakara-sama." Sakura bowed this time.

"Please, call me Tchakara-san." She insisted and Sakura couldn't refuse the suggestion.

"Also, Sakura," Tsunade cut in, "Tchakara-sama will be here for a few weeks while her surviving members from the caravan heal enough to travel home, and I thought it would be appropriate for you and Ziom to be her guides while here." She turned to face the young heiress, "And please, don't hesitate to ask for anything."

"Thank you so much, Tsunade-san." Tchakara smiled.

The three of them had finished in the Hokage's office and traveled outside. Sakura, all the while, was thinking about Sasuke. She didn't want to leave him like that so early in the morning and now that was all that was on her mind. Ziom could tell that his friend was lost in her thoughts and decided that it wasn't fair for her to do something she couldn't focus on. He easily matched her pace, caught her shoulders to slow her down, and turned her around so that she could face him.

"Sakura, if you want to get back to Uchiha, then that's fine. I can guard Tchakara-san just fine by my self." He gave her a slight smile to reassure her.

She nodded and mouthed the words, "thank you," before flitting off on the rooftops in the direction of her apartment. He turned back around to face the young heiress. She was too conspicuous in this crowd of people, and it made him slightly uncomfortable. Any assassin could easily make out their target if she was wearing fine robes and make up, even if she was surrounded by ordinary citizens.

"Zi-kun, where did Sakura-chan go?" She cocked her head slightly as an inclination of her question.

"She was needed elsewhere, so I dismissed her. I hope that was acceptable on my part." He bowed and awaited for her response.

She gently placed her hand on his shoulder as a sign for him to rise, and as he did so, he could see a small smile playing at the corners of her mouth. Tchakara hid her gesture by covering her mouth with her elegant sleeve, but her snickers were audible enough for Ziom to hear. He knew the mannerisms of the upper class and knew that if someone of higher rank than you started to laugh, you had to join them otherwise it would be considered rude. So by following this rule, he cracked a smile of his own and let out as much laughter as she was making.

Tchakara started to calm down and regained herself, "Why are you laughing?"

He immediately stopped and plastered his previous unemotional expression back on his face. "I was raised by a code of rules. When someone of higher rank does something, you usually copy or follow their lead. I was simply being polite."

"Oh, well, if you're willing to be polite, then could you call me Kara-chan like you used to?" She asked. Her eyes glistened as she waited for his answer.

Of course, Ziom was never in this sort of position with a higher up. He was never taught or told what to do when someone of this power asked for such an intimate thing, so he was at a loss for words. He simply stood there while his mind raced for an answer. Any answer would've sufficed. Though his instincts told him to accept the offer, he really didn't want to. This woman was from his past of skeletons and ghosts. She was the only thing that could ruin his recovering life.

"Zi-kun? Are you alright?"

He must've been lost in his thoughts because what snapped him back into reality was the soft, delicate touch of Tchakara. She had reached up to touch his cheek with her clean hands and the touch felt familiar, reassuring as if the memories started to pour back into his consciousness. Instinctively, he grabbed her wrist to pull her hand away from his cheek, and as soon as he did so, the memories started to vanish and his head began to clear. Although, this allowed him to see the situation he had just gotten himself in.

Ziom held Tchakara's wrist above her head in a rather tight hold. He immediately let go and got down on his hands and knees with his forehead touching the dirt of the ground. His apology came out muffled.

"Zi-kun, stop bowing before me. I don't want to be treated like the Daimyo's daughter, so stop treating me like that. From now on, while I am taking refuge in Konohagakure, I am considered a common citizen. In fact, I'm gonna need to change to fit the part, won't I?" Her voice still held authority like someone from the upper class, but her words reached out to him the most.

"Yes, of course, my lady." He agreed, still remaining on his hands and knees.

"Stop calling me that. And stand up on your feet. You're a proud shinobi, aren't you?"

He got to his feet, brushed the dirt off of himself, and looked at her straight in her eyes. "Of course I am." He answered her.

"Then act like it."

She was stubborn, he'd have to admit, but that doesn't mean he had to stop being a gentleman. She was still of noble blood and no matter how literal her demands were, he would still have to behave himself on a degree. For the most part, he was going to give in to her request on playing it casual.

"Fine then, Kara-chan, where would you like to go?" He offered her his arm and she took it, snuggling closely to him.

"Anywhere I can find common clothes to blend in." She whispered and they headed toward the center of town.

* * *

><p>Sakura rushed home, eager to Sasuke still asleep. She rarely got to see him asleep nowadays since he was always the last one to fall asleep and the first one to wake up. It was soothing to see his sleeping face and it was the only thing that was lacking with their relationship. When he was in his coma, it was easy to talk to him.<p>

The more she thought about him being alone all day, confined to only his thoughts, the more she wanted to make herself sprint faster. She could feel the humidity and looked up to see the sky covered in dark gray clouds. It was gonna rain.

Sakura finally came to her apartment and quickly unlocked the door, though the old lock didn't give her trouble like it usually did. As soon as she stepped into her living room, she knew there was something wrong. Her living room looked ransacked as there were papers tossed about and lots of broken furniture as well as broken glass from dishes and her table. Something had happened and the first thing that came into her mind was that something happened to Sasuke. Though he was still skilled in taijutsu, she knew that without his ninjutsu he was still vulnerable for assassins and what not. She rushed past the mess and barged into her bedroom.

She was surprised to see that nothing looked disturbed in here than out there. Her bed was perfectly made and all of the dirty clothes were picked up off the floor. After seeing her room in this state, her heart started to calm down until she remembered that something was missing. Sasuke was nowhere to be found.

As soon as she remembered that, she turned around to rush out and find him. But there was something wrong with her body since it didn't want to move. She could feel the hairs on the back of her neck start to prickle as she felt approaching chakra.

"Well, well, it looks like I found the perfect bait." The voice was deep, coated with something cynical in his tone, but there was something about the voice that told Sakura he was laughing.

The next thing she knew, the room started to darken and she had drifted into unconsciousness.

* * *

><p>Okay, I know I've kept you guys waiting and I hope you forgive me. To bribe your forgiveness I've included extra SasuSaku fluff. My schedule is really crazy in the fall, so please bear with me. I'm probably going to keep on using cliffhangers just to make sure that you guys don't think I've given up on this story.<p>

I've also introduced my friend's OC, Tchakara, because she's going to be a major person in this story's plot.


	8. Sacrifice

Chapter 8

Sacrifice

"Stop it, Naruto!" Hinata screamed. She couldn't stop thrashing about as Naruto continued to torture her. "No, please! Stop!" Tears were starting to roll down her cheeks as he wouldn't cease. "Please, Nah-roo-toh! You know I'm...I'm...I'm ticklish!" She screamed again in laughter.

Naruto continued to torture her as his fingers trailed up and down her sides and across her stomach. They were at his place because their picnic date had been rained out. Hinata had gotten soaked from the rain so Naruto offered her one of his shirts to change into, so she was now wearing a black t-shirt and a pair of compression shorts that he borrowed from his red headed neighbor. They ended up eating lunch in his living room and somehow they got on the topic of tickling. Hinata told him how sensitive she was and because he was bored, he decided on seeing just how ticklish she was. And that's how they ended up as they were now.

In all of Hinata's thrashing, she had accidentally kicked him in his groin. He had stopped immediately and fell onto the floor in a groaning silence. Hinata sat up and looked down to see the blonde ninja moaning on the floor, causing her to feel guilty. She got up from the couch and knelt down beside him, placing her hand on his cheek and whispered, "I'm so sorry, Naruto...but I'll make it up to you."

She bent down and kissed him tenderly on the lips. He had forgotten about his lower pain until a new one appeared. Hinata smiled against the kiss as her hand trailed down and she lightly grabbed at his lower member, fully aware of his arousal. She moved her hands to the hem of his shirt and he slowly began to sit up as she lifted his still dampened shirt off from his torso. His seal was no longer there, but as he entwined his fingers in her hair and deepened the kiss, she couldn't help but to trace a spiral around his bellybutton. He gave a soft chuckle against her lips, breaking the kiss, and placed his hands on either side of her face. Without their conscious approval, their bodies had wrapped up together so that Hinata was sitting in his lap with her legs secured tightly around his hips while she was pressed up against the sofa. Her arms hooked around his neck as they both took time to breathe.

She could feel the heat of his breath bounce off her face and the rapid thrumming of his heart against her chest. But before anything else could happen, there was a knock at the door. Hinata looked to the door and back to Naruto. She placed her lips beside his ear to whisper, "Be in the bedroom in five minutes or else I'll start without you."

And with that, she untangled herself from his body and quietly made her way to his bedroom. Naruto was stunned to silence and had to slap himself in order to compose his usual self. He quickly got to the door and nearly flew it off its hinges. He was going to tell whoever it was to go away, but his plan was completely forgotten when he saw who it was.

He was a bit surprised to see Sasuke there. He was wearing sweats like usual and he was just soaking wet. Little rivulets of water cascaded down his face and arms—the visible parts of his body—while he wore a dulled and tired expression. It was clear that he hadn't been sleeping lately, even to Naruto, by the way his posture was slouched and the dark circles under his eyes. Naruto knew not to ask him about the obvious insomnia so there must've been another reason for the Uchiha to show up at his door.

"Come on in." He said and left the door open for his friend. There wasn't any concern that Sasuke would leave or do anything else because his only concern was for Hinata who was waiting for him in the other room. "Hinata," he cracked his door, "Sasuke's here."

"I-I'll be right out." She stammered.

Naruto chuckled at the thought of Hinata blushing and frantically looking for her clothes. He shut the door and proceeded to walk over to his couch where the Uchiha was sitting. Though Sasuke was drenched and probably soaking the couch as well, Naruto didn't care. He knew his moody friend quite well and knew that he wouldn't be at his house if it wasn't something important. The question was...what happened?

Sasuke ran his fingers through his hair, slicking it back although a few strands returned to his face. Most people would believe that this was his usual, aloof self, but Naruto knew him better than most people. He could see concern, panic, and even fear—actual fear—in the Uchiha's eyes which was starting to put the host in a state of unease.

"Sasuke, what happened?" Naruto couldn't take the silence any longer.

The said ninja still didn't respond as he folded his hands—blocking his mouth—and leaned on his elbows, losing himself in deep thought.

"Sasuke," Naruto's voice had turned gruff now that he was desperate to find out what happened, "tell me." He nearly growled.

"She's gone." He simply muttered. If the room wasn't as dead as it was, Naruto would've never had heard him.

"What do you mean? Who's gone?"

"Sakura...She's gone." His voice nearly cracked.

Naruto couldn't quite understand what was going on. Hearing that Sakura was gone had surprised him, but what was more surprising was that she would leave him in the first place. Something didn't make sense here. "Sasuke, tell me exactly what happen."

He turned his head away from his friend and looked out the window. It was still raining as the water streaked down the glass and the dark clouds were still visible in the sky. He saw a flash of lightning in the distance and couldn't help but wonder where exactly she had gone to, but as much as these thoughts invaded his head, all he could really think about was nothing. His mind was blank of options as to what to do. Taking a deep breath, he decided to move through the motions and tell Naruto what happened upon his arrival home. "This morning she had gone to see Tsunade with Ziom while I was still asleep. When I woke, she still hadn't come back and so I decided to see if she'd gone to the hospital for a shift, but when I got there, she wasn't there. I decided that she must've came home and went back. When I came home, there was evidence of a struggle seeing several papers strewn about, furniture broken as well as glass, and some blood had gotten on the floor. Ever since then, I've been searching the village for her."

There was an audible gasp, but it didn't come from Naruto. Instead, both men turned to see Hinata standing in the bedroom doorway. She was wearing her black shorts from before but instead of the black t-shirt she was wearing Naruto's orange jacket. She must've been listening in on Sasuke's story because her eyes had grown wide and a tear was rolling down her cheek. Naruto waved her to sit with him on the couch and she did so very sluggishly.

"Did you report her absence to Hokage-sama?" Hinata asked as she dried her eyes and clutched Naruto's hand—a sort of instinctual reflex.

"No."

"Then there's still hope. We can notify her and then you'll be able to get a team together to save her and—"

"No, I mean, I'm not going to tell her." His eyes had started to burn passionately then as if he was angered, though his face remained stoic as always. "This is why I'm here instead of there."

"But Sasuke," Naruto had to pause in order to get the right words, "you're on probation. You do realize the consequences if you perform any ninjutsu, genjutsu, or even activate your sharingan, right?"

"Of course I do, baka. That's why I came here." His anger was starting to become more evident on his face but at the same time it looked the same as embarrassment because his cheeks were starting to burn a reddish hue.

"So what you're saying is...you need my—"

"Don't say it." Sasuke snapped.

"What?"

"You know what I'm talking about." He grumbled.

Naruto smirked, "You mean, I shouldn't say hel—"

"Yes, that."

"Help."

"That's it." Sasuke got to his feet with more energy than he'd entered the apartment. In fact, it was a good sight to see him with so much vigor. "I don't need your...assistance."

"No, wait, Sasuke. I'm sorry! I was kidding! I promise I won't say that word again." Naruto wanted to help his friend and started to spout things that would appeal to the Uchiha's ears.

"Fine." He crossed his arms over his chest.

"Please, Sasuke-kun, let me assist you as well. With my byakugan, it'll be a lot easier to find her." Hinata spoke up.

He appreciated her wanting to help him, though he'd never say it aloud, so he simply nodded in reply. She smiled at him with happiness, especially since he was willing to extend towards friends in times of need. Sasuke sat back down. He didn't know what do next exactly and therefore needed to think, but the more time he took to think, the farther away the people were getting. 'Although, that might not be the case...' he thought. And then it hit him. He got back onto his feet and went to the window. It was definitely still raining and the lightning had gotten even closer. You would be a fool to be out in a storm like that.

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke turned around, fighting the smirk on his face, "I think I know where they took her."

* * *

><p>Ziom had left Tchakara with her other body guards for the night so that he could go home and rest. He was about halfway there when he felt the presence of something familiar, like a group of shinobi because of their chakra, and so he quickly changed course to follow them. They were heading away from the village and he was going to stop his pursuit—in case they were heading off to do a mission—but as he stopped to turn away, there was an awful chill that ran up his spine. He had felt that sensation once before and though he didn't want to continue onward anymore, there was something telling him to follow them.<p>

The rain pelted his face as he gained speed from the intense adrenaline that was running through his veins. He knew he was getting closer to the shinobi because the same killing intent that had ran down his spine was getting worse. Ziom remembered the first time he felt an intent as murderous as this. It was during the Fourth Ninja War, and it was also the first time he had met Uchiha Sasuke. At the time of their encounter, he had thought that Uchiha Sasuke was very skilled and deserved all the credit that he was getting but also, he was a very arrogant teenager and thought that he could take him on in a fight.

So, Ziom had purposely set out to find him. He was praised his entire life on how talented and naturally gifted he was that it had finally got to his head. At first he was frozen by fear upon their meeting, but as he was pushed on the defensive by the Uchiha, he had finally caught himself and was starting to push back. Several times he could've gone for the killing blow but every time Sasuke would miraculously escape death. The battle had gone on until they were both diminished of chakra and were strictly fighting with taijutsu—sure he had succumbed to the sharingan a few times, but quickly managed to escape the difficult sight, and because genjutsu uses up a lot of chakra, the fear of the sharingan had disappeared a lot quicker than he would've thought. Sasuke was a formidable opponent when it came to taijutsu and even when they were both mentally and physically drained, both men were able to keep up with each other's speed. Though, because they were constantly running at top speed for such a long time, Ziom wasn't used to the rapid drain of energy and that was his downfall.

He was sure, at the time, that Sasuke would've taken his life especially since he was prepared to strike, but the most unexpected thing happened, he was spared. At the time, Ziom had thought it was because the Uchiha was also drained of energy, but as time went on, he came to realize that that wasn't it. There was something else that made him stop and ever since then, he'd been wanting to ask what and why, though he hadn't gotten the chance to ask it yet.

Because Ziom had lost himself in his reverie, he had almost collided with a tree but his body automatically dodged the trunk. He shook his head to clear his thoughts and concentrated on gaining more speed. For an unknown reason, he felt the need to catch up to whoever these ninja might be and tag along, even if he was intruding on a mission. Finally, he caught sight of a bright blonde haired ninja along with two others. He knew the blonde shinobi and decided to take his speed up another notch to catch up.

Naruto turned around and their eyes connected. Because he was found out, Ziom joined up with the group. "What are you doing following us?" Naruto barked over the patter of the rain.

Ziom needed to make up a lie in order to tag along, just in case this was something off the record. "I am following Uchiha. He left the village." Though he could talk to Mai or Sakura about anything, that was it. Only Sakura or Mai ever got to hear full, thought-out conversations from him.

"Fine, you can tag along, but don't report anything." He told him.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean what I say. If you see something that shouldn't be happening, don't report it." There was a deep tone of anger hidden in his voice as he shouted over the rain.

"And what is this about?"

"Sakura's been kidnapped." Sasuke had entered the conversation, and though he responded with a mumble in the pouring rain, his voice carried very nicely over the sound.

"What happened?" Ziom could feel his tone change.

"Wow. I never noticed you had purple eyes before." Naruto commented.

Ziom internally cursed himself. He was starting to get too emotional because it was starting to show in his eyes. His lack of control was not a good sign for what was ahead of the party. He looked away from Naruto and over towards Sasuke. The Uchiha must've figured it out because his own eyes had changed as well. Though they hadn't transformed into the sharingan or in color, they had taken on a serious, stern stare.

"Sasuke-kun!" Hinata called from ahead. She had stopped on a thick tree branch ahead and thanks to the branches above, she was shielded from the heavy down pour. "I can see three people up ahead."

"Do you see Sakura?" Sasuke asked. Ziom noticed the concern in his voice.

"No, I can't really tell." She scanned the area one more time. "Wait, there's a mass of chakra at two o'clock."

Sasuke was about to head off in the pointed direction, but Naruto put his hand on his friend's shoulder to stop him. "Let me check it out." He made the familiar hand sign, whispered the jutsu's name—Kage Bunshin no Jutsu—and in a puff of smoke, another Naruto appeared. He was born knowing what to do and took off towards the given direction, stealthily leaping from branch to branch.

Everyone else sat in wait for the clone's return, keeping their eyes peeled for any sign of detection. The now softening patter of the rain was keeping the silence from becoming completely awkward. Time, though seemed to tick by very slowly as Naruto was reduced to count the drops coming off of the leaves above in order to keep himself sane. Ziom's eyes never left the direction in which the three chakra masses were while Sasuke did the opposite direction and carefully watched out for the clone's return. Hinata kept her byakugan in tact, the veins bulging around her eyes as they pumped chakra to enhance her sight. Everyone was on edge as they waited.

The soft puff of smoke was what interrupted the silence as Naruto's clone evaporated back to its original body. All of the shinobi were tensed, waiting for the ambush to happen any minute, but Naruto held up his hand. It was a sign saying that they haven't been detected. His stare was directed at Sasuke, no one else, and then it pointed to two o'clock where Sakura was supposedly held. It was another silent sign but the signal was common in directing shinobi on secretive missions. The Uchiha took off as Naruto continued to give out more silent directions.

His eyes went on Ziom next and pointed at twelve o'clock, the nearest chakra mass. He took the signal and went to position himself for the ambush. Naruto's eyes went to Hinata next and pointed at ten o'clock. She gave a slight nod and moved herself into position. He was the next to go in formation and headed eleven o'clock. The three of them needed to cause a distraction for Sasuke to get Sakura, though he'd have to take care of the fourth person on his own.

All three of them were in position, right above their intended targets, and it appeared that they had the advantage. These people must've not been shinobi because Naruto had cracked a few twigs and crunched a few leaves on his way over his target and no one noticed the sounds. This was going to be easier than they thought.

* * *

><p>Sakura could feel the blaring light against her eyes as her vision came flooding in. It was blurred at first, most likely because of the rain, but quickly adjusted. It was about twilight night now because she could see a faint redness behind the clouds. She could feel the light mist of rain hit her face as the wind started to pick up, causing a chill to run down her spine and give her goosebumps. When she went to rub her arms, she realized that her hands were tied up at the wrists. Seeing that she checked her legs and saw that her ankles were in the same fate.<p>

Everything started to flood back from her blackened memory as she recalled the last few minutes she had before falling unconscious, though she couldn't quite remember her kidnapper's face. She did, though, remember that he was male and bulky. He must've known about her strength because she was hit over the head first and then her arms were restrained. She hadn't fallen unconscious at that moment and instead decided to fight him off. Because of her life as a shinobi, she had managed to push him back into the living room, though he'd fallen off of her and onto the dinning table. She remembered hearing breaking as they both struggled to get the upper hand and as she was starting to put him on the ropes, one of his comrades had come to check on him. Sneaking up behind her, the little bastard had hit her in the exact same spot as the last guy, finally causing her to black out.

"Oh, crap." She muttered as she tried to straighten herself out.

Someone must've heard her because there was a rush of footsteps. This guy was fast because he had gotten hold of her hair before she could even see the type of shoes he was wearing. Being jerked upward, she had nearly gotten to her feet and felt as though her hair was going to be ripped out of her head. This guy was strong as he held her like a rag doll. Neither what he was saying or his face was important, but what was happening behind him was. She noticed a gray figure leaping in the trees, finally taking residence on the branch directly in front of her.

Though the figure was far away, she could tell it was angry. In fact, it gave off the same chilling anger as a certain moody Uchiha that she knew. As the ruffian continued to speak to her, she paid no regard to him and kept her concentration on the figure. She felt reassured knowing that he was there, but there was something troubling her as well. If that really was Sasuke, then why wasn't he coming to save her?

"—are you listening to me?" The guy's voice had gotten through to her.

She spat on him.

"That's it, you bitch." He reeled his hand backward to hit her but he never came in contact with her face.

Instead, there was another person's hand wrapped tightly around this man's wrist. The ruffian released Sakura from his grip, causing her to fall down on the ground. After she caught her breath, she realized what was going on. The other person who had grabbed the ruffian's wrist was definitely Sasuke. His eyes rested on the man with a killing intent. They were as cold and passable as stone. It looked like he was going to kill this man.

"Sas—" She tried to speak but the sound of cracking bones made her stop.

Sasuke had snapped the guy's wrist and tossed him easily aside. Her jaw dropped in horror as she saw the old Sasuke from the past return before her eyes. She tried to shake that image as she focused on her tied limbs. If only she could escape the grasp of the chakra rope, then maybe she could stop Sasuke from doing something he might regret.

He noticed her struggling with the rope, and though he wanted to beat the living hell out of that guy, his better judgment had gotten hold of him as he turned around to help her. She looked relieved and happy that he decided to help her. He also noticed cuts and bruises all over the visible parts of her body, probably caused from the squabble that was caused back at the apartment. He disregarded the sight and focused on helping her.

"Sasuke, I'm so happy that you came for me." She said, her voice cracked from lack of hydration. Sakura could tell that he'd been looking for her because his hair was sticking to his forehead and his clothes were soaked all the way through so that they stuck to him like a second skin.

"Why wouldn't I have come for you?" He muttered. It sounded more like a personal question directed at himself, but...

"I thought that you wouldn't risk your probation." She said, causing him to stop and look at her with questionable eyes as if what she said was what a crazy person would say. "I mean, I wouldn't want you to risk your probation for me. It's been a steady three months, and with the way things were going, you could be off your sentence in another three months."

"I don't care about—"

Whack!

Neither Sasuke nor Sakura saw that coming. The ruffian from earlier had stealthily gotten back up and hit Sasuke upside his head with a large fallen tree branch. Sasuke fell over like a rock thrown in a lake, leaving only Sakura's legs free from the rope. She had been so surprised that she'd given a shriek in horror. The only thing on her mind was Sasuke's welfare...as usual.

She called out to him, but he didn't respond. He remained motionless on the ground as the rain started to pick up again. Because of the rain, every person's face looked the same, but it was only Sakura's that looked different as her make-up started to run down her face. Her eyes became red and puffy as her cheeks flushed. She could feel her throat starting to tighten up as her voice was cracking from the strain.

"What are you crying for, whore?" The guy said. Sakura could see that he was in pain from his wrist, but also, she could tell that he was disregarding that pain in order to fight back. He picked her back up by her hair and lifted her onto her feet. She hit her hands against his chest but her emotions were getting the best of her as she was putting no force into her "attack". "Oh, come on, baby. You had a lot more spunk earlier."

"Let me go. Let me go." She helplessly wept.

"Oh, no. The fun's just getting started." His smile was evil. Pure evil. And it sent more chills down her spine.

"Please, he needs medical attention!" She screamed.

"Really? Because I recall him breaking my wrist. Don't I get medical treatment?" He pushed her up against a large oak tree as she was still bound by her wrists. His strength was much greater than her own at the moment as he managed to hold her upright with one hand while his bad one started to unbutton her blouse.

"No, please, stop. Stop!" She started to flail about, mostly in her legs seeing how she was bound by her wrists. Her aim was terrible as she tried to hit his groin but kept missing in the end.

"There we go. Now that's there's the spunk." He had finished unbuttoning her shirt. Now, her bra was the only thing that stood in the way of him and her bare chest.

"Let go," she whimpered. Sakura hadn't felt this defenseless since before she starting training with Tsunade.

Finally, her wish was granted as the pain in her head stopped and she slumped down on the ground. She picked her head up and saw the most horrifying sight. Sasuke was standing in front of her with his back to her. She had scanned the area and saw that the ruffian was a few feet away lying on his back and blood was streaming down his face. Her eyes went back to Sasuke's still figure as he clenched his fist, most likely in anger.

"Are you okay?" His voice was strained as he tried to keep his anger under control.

"Uh-huh." She couldn't form words but made a noise to reassure him.

"Good. Now I can finish what I started." He paused. "I don't care about this stupid probation anymore."

"What?"

"I don't like being defenseless, and because I can't use any jutsu, I feel exactly that. I am a strong and powerful shinobi, and do you know what strong and powerful shinobi do?" He waited for an answer but since he got silence, he continued. "They either protect or destroy...I've only destroyed things in my life and now I want to try the other option, but I can't do that."

"I don't understand."

"How can I protect someone that I love if I don't have the power to do so?"

Sakura's heart skipped a beat. "What...What did you say?" She struggled to get to her feet because her hands were still bound, but once she did, she made her way over to stand in front of him.

He didn't even flinch as she placed her hands on his chest. She looked up at his face and gasped because he had done the one thing she'd hoped for the past three months that he wouldn't do. He had activated his sharingan.

"Sasuke, what did you do?" She felt tears starting to creep back.

"I was protecting you." He muttered.

Sakura realized that his voice wasn't strained just because of his anger. It was strained because his curse mark that was set in place for his probation had activated which meant that ANBU agents would be showing up very soon.

"Oh, Sasuke." She flung her arms over his head in order to hug him. Her lips were magnetically pulled to his. Because he was paralyzed, she was the one doing most of the work.

"Sakura," he said between gasps, "I love you."

She stopped and looked at him. His eyes had reverted back and were soft and warm, though their usual sangfroid didn't escape from the stare. It was in this stare that she could tell he meant what he said.

"Sakura!" It was Naruto's voice in the distance that snapped her back to their situation.

She remembered what her appearance looked like and pulled her arms up from around his neck and tried to button her blouse back up the best she could. Sakura looked back at Sasuke and as she turned back around to see Naruto, Hinata, and Ziom, she was surrounded by ANBU Black ops. agents. They each had a different animal mask to identify themselves to their teammates but she was left in the dark as to who was who.

"We've come for the Uchiha." The one with the bird mask said. Two other agents approached Sasuke, one on either side, and hooked their arms under his own. "Make sure you get back to the village."

And with that, the ANBU team was gone as well as Sasuke.

* * *

><p>The rain had finally stopped now that it was night, even the clouds had dispersed. She looked up to the night sky and saw the thousands of twinkling stars before her. Back at the temple, she would have nights like this all of the time, but now it was only bringing up bad memories. She cursed herself for being stuck in this village, though there was one good thing about ending up here in Konoha. Tchakara was finally reunited with Ziom.<p>

The young priestess had found the body of a man in the woods. His eyes were bulged out of his head as he was trapped in a genjutsu. She bent down beside the man and placed her hand on his forehead, transferring some of her chakra to him to break him out of the illusion. As his eyes fluttered, he let out a ruff and strained scream, causing her to immediately shut him up by kicking him in the head.

He stopped screaming and finally noticed the priestess. Immediately, he got on his hands and knees and started to bow in her presence, practically kissing her feet as she now stood before him. "I'm so sorry, Kara-sama." He said.

"Shut up, you fool." She slapped him across his cheek which only caused him to cower in fear. "I told you specifically to capture the one with the white hair, not the pink. Now explain to me how you failed in my demands." Her authoritative tone caused him to tremble and stutter.

"W-Well, w-we g-got the wrong a-apartment a-and as I was s-searching a-around the p-place I-I realized th-that Uchiha S-Sasuke lived th-there. I f-figured h-he would b-b-be a better c-candidate."

"And what made you figure that?" She nearly yelled in exasperation. "You know what, don't answer that. There is only one person I want to get and that's Ziom-kun." Her eyes sparkled with malicious delight.


	9. All's Fair in Love and War

Chapter 9

All's Fair in Love and War

"How can you do this?" Naruto was the one screaming.

Sakura, Hinata, Naruto, and Ziom had gone straight to Tsunade's office after the ANBU took Sasuke away. They had thought he'd gone to her office, but it appeared that the ninja had taken him back to his cell in prison. Sakura had kept silent the entire time to the village and was now curled up by the window with Hinata trying to comfort her. Both Naruto and Ziom were the ones arguing on Sakura's behalf. Ziom had just made his argument and now it was Naruto's turn to take up the conversation.

"You should be lucky that he wasn't killed on the spot." She said. Her anger was evident, but it was also obvious that she was trying to restrain herself.

"We are thankful for that, but still! You don't understand what happened!" He threw his hands up in exasperation.

"I know enough of what happened. You won't shut up about it, but the contract is binding. I gave him a second chance and he blew it."

"To save Sakura!" He retorted.

"Yes, I understand that but—"

"But nothing! He saved a fellow shinobi from the leaf. He was only protecting Konoha! And another thing—"

"Silence, Naruto!" Tsunade's voice had raised eight octaves. It was clear that she had grown intolerant of their arguing. He held in what he was going to say and gritted his teeth. "I've had enough. Because of the circumstances, Uchiha Sasuke was not sentenced to death and will hereby be placed on trial. If he is found innocent, then he'll be a free citizen of Konoha once again, but if he is found guilty, then he'll be punished according to his sentence—be that probation yet again or death."

Sakura gave a little gasp from Tsunade's last word, but other than that she felt hopeful. She knew that he was innocent because he had restrained himself. He could've killed that man easily with his chidori or even his katon jutsu, but he didn't. He restrained himself for her sake.

"How long?" Sakura mumbled, finally speaking.

"What?" Tsunade didn't hear her the first time.

"Sakura-chan...?" Hinata touched her shoulders and could feel Sakura trembling beneath her touch.

"How long until the trial?" She completed her question.

Tsunade bit on her lower lip. "I don't know at the moment, but it will be in—at least—three months."

"Three months?" Naruto exclaimed.

"Yes, now be quiet. There was a prison riot a week ago and now we're behind schedule with trials and such." The Hokage stated.

Everyone seemed to look towards Sakura. Her usually bright, green eyes were now dull, lifeless, and red-rimmed from her silent crying. Also, her face looked puffy and flushed as well as the fresh bruises that were starting to take form from earlier. She had brought her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around them, and huddled closer to the window. Hinata sat with her, watching her intently and waiting for her to break down any minute. Everyone seemed to have a melancholy look to them.

"Come on, Sakura-chan, I think you should go home." Hinata got to her feet and helped Sakura get to hers.

Everyone remained quiet as they made their way out of the office. Sakura hadn't noticed how much she was trembling until she had to grip onto Hinata as they made their way out of the building. They were taking it slow back to Sakura's apartment, and Hinata was trying to take the quickest route which involved passing the hospital. She wasn't sure how the pink kunoichi would react as they passed the building since it was the start of everything that has happened in the past three months, but Sakura took it surprisingly well.

Someone was coming out of the building as they passed and noticed the two women. She had long, familiar white hair that was tied lightly back, allowing a few strands to blow in her face and keep a youthful look about her. It appeared that she hadn't changed out of her nurse's outfit.

"Sakura? Hinata-chan?" She spoke. Mai approached the two girls. The bump that was her stomach was starting to become very noticeable as she continued with her pregnancy. Also, there seemed to be this glowing aura around her as she constantly smiled. "Are you two okay?" She was deeply concerned, especially after seeing Sakura's distraught face.

"Mai-chan, I don't think we should talk about it. We just got done talking with Hokage-sama about the whole thing." Hinata whispered as she explained what happened.

Mai's hands reached to cover her mouth and then quickly went to touch Sakura's shoulder. "If you need anyone, I'm right here."

"And I will also be by your side along with Naruto." Hinata promised.

"That's right. I'll force Ziom if you want too." Mai was trying to joke around to see if Sakura would smile, but that didn't work. Sakura didn't seem to acknowledge anything. "Plenty of people will help you get through this, Sakura, and if you ever need to keep yourself busy, you can always take up extra shifts at the hospital."

"I just want to go home." She said with much apathy.

"Alright, we can do that."

* * *

><p>They had finally reached Sakura's apartment, accumulating more people on the way. They ran into Ino, Yuki, Tenten, and Sai along the way. It was as if the news of Sasuke's arrest was already spreading around the village and everyone was going to someone who might know the details. Though, to their disappointment, they had to wait until they were back at Sakura's place. Mai had settled her into bed and shut the door behind her. She made sure that Sakura had everything she needed before doing so, though.<p>

"So, what happened?" Ino asked. Her eyes were bright and curious as she gripped on Sai's arm.

"Well, I don't know exactly myself, but we do know that Sasuke-kun activated his sharingan." Hinata whispered. She knew that Sakura hadn't fallen asleep and was afraid of causing her any more pain than what she was in already.

"Why did he do that?" Yuki asked. She hadn't been thinking too much on the question and it kind of blurted out.

"Wait, before you explain that, how did all of this happen in the first place?" Tenten asked. She wanted to start from the very beginning since she didn't know about any of this until she heard it from Ino.

"Sakura was kidnapped." Ino also kept her voice down as she answered.

"Why?" Yuki asked. It was a question all of them wanted to know.

Hinata opened her mouth to answer but quickly shut it, not able to recall any reason behind the whole episode. "I...don't know."

"That's a little fishy if you asked me. I mean, there must've been a reason behind all of this, right?" Ino said, speaking the thing that was on everyone's mind.

"Actually, they could have been hired to kidnap her. There are many cases where shinobi are kidnapped for information or jutsus by other shinobi's or even nations." Sai intervened on the conversation. He had been quiet the entire time they walked into the apartment and until now, closely taking in information. "It could also be that someone has a grudge on her but not the strength to do something themselves, or she was just bait to lure someone out."

"Well, Sakura-senpai is a great medical ninja. I mean, she knows so many medicines that other people might not know..." Yuki pondered one of the options aloud.

"She also has information about Konoha that could benefit another nation..." Sai suggested.

"I don't know anyone who could have a grudge against her accept me," Ino said aloud, "but now, that grudge is completely gone." She leaned her head on Sai's shoulder.

"I think she was bait." Mai was confident in her answer. Everyone stared at her, waiting for her to explain her reasoning. "Well, she's been with Sasuke-san since his probation and is the only person able to tame him right now. I think someone was trying to get to him and used her to do so. It's either that or they knew he'd use chakra, break his probation, and either get killed or thrown in jail for the rest of his life. But that's my own opinion." She explained, leaving everyone to ponder at her words.

"I'm agreeing with Mai-chan. Sasuke-san has a lot more grudges and people who want him dead than anyone else in Konoha. It makes the most sense." Hinata agreed.

There was a knock at the door and everyone simply looked at one another, seeing who would answer it instead of just opening it themselves. After a few more knocks and seconds passed, Mai—who was already standing up—rolled her eyes and made her way to the door. When she opened up, she was a bit surprised and a little jealous to see Ziom there. He looked panicked, frantic with bright purple eyes. Mai knew that color and felt a little relieved that he felt concerned, but at who?

"Oh, Mai," he wrapped his arms around her body and held her close.

She wasn't prepared for the hug and was awkwardly standing in the doorway with her arms still at her sides. Mai's stomach started to hurt and that was when she made a move to push him away. He felt her resistance and immediately released the embrace, but he kept his hands on her shoulders. Ziom looked down in her eyes and saw that they were worried and frantically searching his eyes for answers.

"What's wrong, Ziom?" She asked.

"I...nothing. It's just I went back to the apartment and you weren't there. You said you got off around this time so I...just panicked is all." He hugged her again, but this time it was more tender, gentle. He released the hug again and this time kissed her just as passionately.

"Ahem," someone cleared their throat.

They broke their kiss. Mai looked into Ziom's eyes, saw that the purple had vanished, and was surprised yet happy to see their now pinkish hue. She took his hand and shut the door behind him, walking him to the table where everyone else was seated. Mai gave him her coffee and poured herself another cup.

"What were you discussing?" He asked, looking at all of the coffee cups and concerned faces.

"Reasons behind the kidnapping." Sai answered. Though his personality was still developing, his old, blunt self was still around and happened to pop out at this moment.

"Oh," he grasped the cup and took a sip out of it.

"Don't worry, though, because we're changing the subject." Ino said, covering up for her boyfriend's bluntness. "I'm worried about Sakura."

"Yes, me too." Hinata agreed. Her face turned rather sad on this subject. "I'm concerned about the next three months. How is she going to handle this?"

"I don't know, but I do know she won't have to do this alone." Mai added. "We'll be there for her, right?"

"Of course. Sakura-senpai was there for me when I was learning on becoming a medical nin. I promise to get her through this like she helped me." Yuki clenched her fists in a determined fashion.

"Sakura's been there for all of us. I think the least we can do is be there for her. Anyone else in?" Ino asked.

"I'm in." Mai agreed.

"Me too." Ziom followed her lead.

"Count me in as well." Tenten was enthusiastic to join.

"Yes." Sai didn't hesitate to help his teammate.

"Hn." Hinata nodded.

"For Sakura-senpai!" Yuki kept her voice down but she still "yelled" it excitedly.

"Then it's settled. We'll keep her distracted and happy." Ino ended the conversation.

* * *

><p>Three months later...<p>

"Zi-kun!" Tchakara squealed. She took hold of his hand and started leading him through a rather large crowd in the village. "Look, look! Isn't it beautiful?" She awed.

She was staring at a necklace, but it wasn't just any necklace. It was made of gold with a large ruby heart in the center. There were several small sapphires equally spaced along the chain that looked like a dozen eyes were twinkling back at her. Her eyes sparkled with desire for the jewelry as she squeezed his hand even harder.

"Can we get it?" She asked, pushing her lower lip forward in a pouting, pleading way.

"If that is what you desire, Kara-sama." He humbly replied.

"Aw, don't answer like that, Zi-kun. Why can't you ever speak normally with me?" Her tone was starting to whine like a small child.

"Because, Kara-sama, that would not be professional or respectable."

"I don't care about titles or ranks. I just want to be normal." She let go of his hand and wrapped her arms around his torso. Putting her chin on his chest, she looked up at him with wide eyes.

With the contact, Ziom had frozen in place. Something about this embrace felt familiar, nostalgic, but at the same time, he felt tensed and uncomfortable. His head started to hurt as his vision started to spot with sharp black dots. He staggered backwards as he tried to recenter himself.

"Are you alright, Zi-kun?" She asked, releasing her arms from around his body.

He rubbed his eyes and his temples, hoping that would drive his headache away. After standing there for a minute and not feeling the symptoms again, he returned to Tchakara's side. "Please excuse what happened."

"Come, I wish to rest." She took his hand and walked from the jewelry stand.

She had found a quiet place far away from the noise of the downtown commotion. They sat underneath a tree that was nearly stripped of all its leaves and overlooked the village. It was just about noon and you could see the lunch rush about to begin. The younger generation of shinobi could be seen hopping from rooftop to rooftop, playing some game to pass the time, while some older shinobi passed right by them. Young mothers could be seen strolling around with each other and their children before it got too cold.

Ziom could see his breath as a cold breeze silently whipped by. He couldn't stop staring at the young mothers as they happily passed by him. They were glowing and happy, and he couldn't stop thinking how the fathers must feel. Were they happy and glowing? Did they ever feel nervous or scared about being a parent? There are only three months left and to Ziom, it felt like any minute.

"Zi-kun, please tell me what it is that's bothering you." Tchakara grabbed his arm and huddled close to him. He brushed it off as her being cold.

"I'm just..." he trailed off. Suddenly, a flash of pain erupted through his head and soon he was bombarded with images. They rushed by too fast for him to identify anyone, but they all contained the same background. He was positive that it was his home village, Kagegakure. "My head—"

"I'm worried about him, Shikamaru." It was a familiar, female voice.

Ziom knew the voice immediately and snatched his arm away from Tchakara. The voices were walking away and getting muffled so he decided to follow them stealthily.

"What are you worried about?" Shikamaru asked in a hushed tone as if he sensed someone eavesdropping on their conversation.

"Him," she sounded exasperated but kept her voice down to match his. "I mean, he's always coming home late at night, and if I'm up, he goes straight to bed. His eyes have been a deep indigo color lately which is a combination of blue, sadness, and purple, concern."

"Geez," Shikamaru sighed. He rubbed the back of his head as he tried to think of something in response to that. "Don't get so stressed out."

"What?"

"I mean, he's a shinobi too, right? He's going to have days where he's going to come home late or become unresponsive. It's just the fact of this life." He glanced over at her, waiting for her reaction but all he got was silence.

Mai placed her hands on her stomach as if her unborn child would give her the answer she needed. She smiled softly to herself as a small tear rolled down from the corner of her eye. It seemed that she had gotten what she was looking for. "You're right, Shikamaru. I must've forgotten, huh?"

"You should stop stressing yourself. Man, I never knew you'd be this troublesome. Maybe it's the hormones..." He muttered the last part to himself, but she smiled anyway.

Ziom had overheard the entire conversation, and a feeling of guilt was starting to form in the pit of his stomach. He didn't know that Mai had been so worried about him during this time. She needed to focus on the welfare of their unborn child instead. He sort of smiled at the thought that she cared for him that much but quickly wiped it away at the realization that it was a bad thing. 'She needs to focus on that child, not me.' he thought.

"What are you doing, Zi-kun?" Tchakara touched his arm, and another wave of pain washed over him.

This time, he couldn't handle the extremeness of the feeling. He held his head and pushed her away, forgetting that it was his duty to serve her instead of treat her like a commoner. The memories started to flood back, but this time they came much slower. He saw the image of a young girl who looked as fragile as porcelain and who was as sad as the summer rain. The next image was of the same girl but she was smiling, changing her entire appearance while giving a soft glow of warmth from her person. He registered that this girl was, in fact, Tchakara but he couldn't remember how long ago this was, though she looked about eight or nine years old.

He could see her sitting beside him in what looked like an old dojo. They were discussing something but there must've been a filter on his memories still because he couldn't hear what she was saying or his responses. He did deduce, though, a few words because he had some experience in lip reading. The words: protect, promise, and marriage stood out to him and were the most used. Time soon fast forward and the next thing he was remembering was a man, his sensei, being bound by his wrists and being forced to sit down on a chair in the main plaza of Kagegakure. He knew this memory was fuzzy and must've been altered because it skipped again and he was now being restrained. Extreme hatred and grief seemed to flow through him like it was happening all over again. He was in the Yumekage's office along with several elite ninja, and though he couldn't see what exactly was going, he knew that the Yumekage was standing behind him. He felt a searing pain on the back of his neck, and then his vision went black.

Ziom returned back to reality and saw something glimmer in Tchakara's eyes. It wasn't worry or fear, but a strange sort of happiness. She smiled sharply and placed her long, skinny finger under his chin, bringing his face only inches from hers. He couldn't move his body at all and felt a cold sweat on his forehead. He couldn't even speak to ask what she was doing.

"Did you see something interesting?" She asked.

He still couldn't move or talk, but he managed to move his eyes up and down.

"Let me guess..." She trailed off. Tchakara moved her other hand to the back of his neck and pressed down hard on where he had felt the searing pain only moments ago. He clenched his eyes shut in pain as black spots started to invade his vision again. "Did it have anything to do with this seal?"

Pinching the skin on the back of his neck, she began to peel away the seal as if it was a bandage ready to be removed. He bit into his lower lip in pain, drawing blood, and clenched his eyes shut again. After she removed her fingers, the rest of his memories came flooding in. There were so many that, though he could see each one in detail and hear every word, his mind couldn't handle it and his sense of reality vanished. Everything went black.

* * *

><p>Mai and Shikamaru were meeting up with Sakura and Yuki for lunch. Mai was still thinking about the conversation from the park, and though Shikamaru's answer gave a good excuse for Ziom, she couldn't help but think that there was something wrong. She tried to disregard that feeling as Sakura approached with Yuki.<p>

"Hello, Sakura, Yuki." Mai greeted her friends and smiled. Today, Sakura had looked much better as there was color in her cheeks and a sparkle in her eye. "And why are you so happy?" She asked.

Sakura blushed, "Well, I heard from Tsunade-sama that Sasuke's trial will be in a few days. She also says that his behavior has been good and she thinks that he'll be able to be a free citizen again, though she also says not to get my hopes up."

"There's no way that that's going to happen. Your hopes are already high, aren't they?" Mai raised an eyebrow, seeing through her friend's feelings.

She nodded in slight embarrassment.

"Wow, Mai-senpai, are you sure you're six months? You look like you're gonna pop any moment." Yuki blurted aloud. Though her personality is mainly quiet and submissive, she was coming out of her shell lately which added to the fact that she didn't have much of a filter when it came to sensitive topics like looks or weight.

Mai knew this new fact about Yuki and tried to disregard the last comment. Instead, she answered the question. "I'm 99.9 percent positive that I'm six months. You have to leave some room for error, right?" She tried to laugh it off. "Anyway, I'm starved. Let's go eat."

"Wait," Yuki said, her eyes seemed to be looking somewhere else in the crowd behind them.

"What?"

"Do you wanna ask Ziom-kun to join us?" She asked.

Everyone turned around to see the said shinobi walking this way. Sakura felt uneasy as well as Mai who took close notice to his eyes. They were pitch black, a color she'd never seen before, and wasn't sure how to approach him. Somewhere in the back of her mind she could hear his voice start to warn her, 'If you ever see a color in my eyes that you've never seen before, don't approach me.' It was a warning from what felt like centuries ago.

"I don't think that's a good idea." Mai mumbled, but Yuki didn't hear her. She waved frantically to get Ziom's attention which worked.

He looked over towards the group with a distant stare. The body that was walking before them may have looked like Ziom but the 'real' Ziom was nowhere close to them. He was approaching the group with unnecessary speed and grasped his wrists. There were seals, Mai knew, and they were for summoning his twin katanas, or Gemini blades has he liked to call them. He pulled the hilts out of his wrists, bringing the blade with him, and clash the blades together to create a sharp pang.

Shikamaru was quick to react as he grabbed for a kunai. Because he did this, he was able to block the blow that Ziom had just delivered. His blades clashed against Shikamaru's small kunai, creating a screeching, and caused all of the bystanders to run in fear and panic. Sakura was also quick to react as she grabbed Mai and started to pull her to a safer area. This caused Ziom to take interest in them and easily knocked Shikamaru away with his foot. He made a dash for Mai and Sakura but was blocked by the red-headed kunoichi, Yuki.

She had made a katana out of her kekkei genkai Hyoton in the matter of seconds and was able to block Ziom's blow. Unlike Shikamaru's small kunai that was made of metal, her large katana that was made of ice had kept a better defense than the real weapon. Her ice was nearly impossible to shatter even under extreme conditions like heat or pressure. She was very skilled in close combat and knew that she'd be able to keep him away from Mai and Sakura.

"Raigen...Raikōchū," he was monotone as he said the genjutsu's name. Without any time to react, a bright light started to emanate from his body. Yuki made the mistake of trying to cover her eyes, allowing him to kick her in the stomach and causing her to hit her head on the ground. She was knocked out cold after that.

Though Ziom seemed to be nothing but a puppet, he could still sense Shikamaru as he tried to capture him with his kageshibari no jutsu. He jumped in the air and pointed his swords upward. Flashes of lightning seemed to wrap themselves around his blades as he spun in the air. Only seconds had passed before a giant dragon appeared made entirely of lightning. He sent it after Shikamaru and he barely dodged it, but several bolts of lightning managed to to shoot out and one struck him, rendering him unconscious as well.

"Ziom, stop this!" Mai shrieked. She was terrified of this emotion.

He continued onward as if he didn't hear her pleading cry.

"Ziom, I don't want to hurt you." Sakura said, her voice a bit wavering, but her fists remained stilled as she placed herself in front of Mai's body.

The closer he got, the more Mai was able to see his eyes. Though the irises remained blacker than the night, she could see a stream of tears start to cascade from the corners of his eyes and trail down his cheeks in small rivulets. There was some part of him that knew what he was doing even though his body was going against his mind and judgment. Mai knew that he was still in there and figured that she had one shot at making him return.

She pushed past Sakura and ran to Ziom. Wrapping her arms around his midsection, she hoped that this would make him wake up. He had stopped moving and everything became silent. The world could've died and no one would've known.

"I knew you'd stop." Mai smiled as tears of joy started to roll down her cheeks. "I love you so much, Ziom, and I hope that we can be like this forever, so please stop doing this. We're your friends. Please stop." She squeezed tighter. "I love—"

Mai was choked off as she felt a sharp pain in her side. The pain was followed by blood spouting from her mouth. Her arms unwrapped themselves from his torso, and she soon felt weightless. Mai saw Ziom's eyes turn from black to blue as he regained himself. Sakura was screaming her name as she hit the ground with a thud.

"Mai, Mai, can you hear me?" Sakura was frantically searching her mind to do something. She applied first aid which most medical ninja would have done in battle. The wound was closing up but slower than what she would've liked. She could see Mai's eyes start to flutter. "Don't give up on me, Mai. Think about you baby. You have to survive for its sake."

Ziom slumped to his knees and dropped his katanas. He stared, bewildered, at Mai's state. Her pure white hair was stained with dirt and blood as well as her milky white skin. She was grasping her stomach where the katana had been inserted. His eyes could only linger on her stomach but as they traveled upward, they rested on her eyes. They were a soft violet like usual that seemed to radiate warmth and love. He felt disgusted at himself and wanted to throw up.

"Ziom," she coughed up more blood, but she got his undivided attention. "I love you..."


	10. One Hell of a Day

Chapter 10

One Hell of a Day

"Mai, hang in there." Sakura told her. She could see the light in her friend's eyes start to recede and was trying hard to blink back the tears.

Ziom had frozen dead in spot and couldn't stop staring at his dying love. She weakly lifted her hand and he took it immediately. Her strength was fading fast. "I'm so sorry." He whispered and kissed the palm of her hand.

Mai's eyes looked to Sakura, "Please...save...our baby..." As Sakura nodded to the plea, Mai switched her attention back to Ziom. "If boy..." she coughed up more blood, "Ria...You pick...if girl..." She waited for a sign of acknowledgment and when he nodded, she spoke again, "Please protect...it..."

"Suzu, if it's a girl." He muttered. It was the only name besides Mai that would appear in his head.

She smiled a bloodied, fractured smile. It was like looking at a broken stone angel. "I like...that name..."

Finally, a team of medical ninja had arrived on the scene. A bystander must've reported the situation as they panicked away from the earlier fight. Sakura knew everyone who arrived but was a bit more relieved to see that Ino was amongst them. She never stopped her treatment, though she was starting to feel the exhaustion of using too much chakra. Someone had offered to take over, but she pushed the help away, determined to save her friend by herself.

They managed to bring Mai back to the hospital along with an unconscious Shikamaru and Yuki. They were going to be fine but all attention was turned to Mai and her baby. Just as they were about to operate, Mai's heart had finally gave out and stopped beating. Though they wanted to stop to grieve her death, they knew that they couldn't because there was still time to save the baby.

Though Sakura was a great medical ninja, she was a poor surgeon. She stayed in the operating room and watched as they pulled out a small infant. They handed the child to a nurse to clean it and Sakura leapt into action to help. She had done this sort of thing before and carefully cleaned the baby. As she was cleaning, she started to cry as she found out the baby was a boy. Sakura kept muttering the name Ria to him but he remained quiet and motionless as his eyes were closed tightly.

The melancholy silence was interrupted with a baby's cry. Sakura saw that it wasn't coming from Ria who seemed dead in her arms but from another child behind her. Mai had twins. The nurse grabbed the screaming child and began to clean it, discovering its gender. She was a healthy baby girl who looked a little big for a baby born prematurely. She was born with wisps of white hair like her brother and had a strong voice. Suzu was already reminding Sakura of Mai.

"Sir, please, you can't enter."

There was a lot of commotion coming from outside the operating room and Sakura knew exactly whom it was. She walked outside with Ria swathed in her arms. She hoped to calm Ziom down, and when he saw her, he immediately went towards her with frantic eyes. They kept changing between purple, blue, and red. Sakura had never seen his eyes change so much or so rapidly in one day.

He took notice of the small, sickly child in Sakura's arms and slowed his approach. All of the color started to drain from his face. "Please, tell me..." he trailed off and pointed to his child.

"This is your sun, Ria." Sakura said softly. She smiled at him and then at the baby who remained silent in her arms. "Do you want him to take your name?"

"No, let him keep his mother's." He responded with little emotion. "He has white hair." He muttered, mostly to himself, but Sakura overheard the comment.

"And what's wrong with that?" She asked, a bit stunned and offended.

"In my clan, white means death." Ziom grabbed his head and dropped to his knees. He seemed to be in great pain before his hands dropped to his sides and looked up at Sakura with black eyes.

She held the child tightly in her arms and back away from him, afraid he'd take the life of his own child. Instead of attacking, though, he turned around and took off. Sakura ran to the window and saw that he was heading away from the village. She wanted to follow him and stop him, but her legs wouldn't move. Plus, seconds after she came to the window there was a rush of ANBU agents taking off towards Ziom's direction.

Sakura decided to let Tsunade-sama handle this situation, plus, she knew that he'd come back after he cleared his head. Ziom wasn't the kind of person who'd abandon his children—though she did think he'd never harm Mai or his friends. She shook her head and walked back into the operating room. Mai had been covered and her daughter was no longer in the room, probably sent to the nursery, and so she shuffled Ria in her arms so that she could move a hand freely.

She pulled back the blanket and saw that Mai's face had been cleaned of any blood. Her face was like a painting of a beautiful maiden who was waiting for her true love's kiss. She looked as if she was simply sleeping, which pained Sakura the most. If only Yuki hadn't called Ziom over, then they could've been in the restaurant and everything would've blown over. Though she wanted to put the blame on someone else, she knew that it wasn't anyone else's fault beside her own. She should've protected her instead of letting her embrace a brainwashed Ziom.

Sakura grasped Ria in her arms and fell to her knees, holding the baby boy close to her body. She froze like that for what felt like hours and cried. She cried until all of her tears had run dry and she could no longer hold her body up. Now sitting on the floor, she was reduced to a small whimper and a few drops of tears.

When the room was filled with nothing but silence, she felt something squirming in her arms. It wriggled around and started to grunt and whimper itself. Sakura looked down at Ria and saw that he was finally moving. Whatever Ziom was worried about, white meaning death and all, it didn't matter anymore. Ria started to cry and Sakura was relieved. She gently bounced him in her arms to soothe his crying while her own tears started to come out again.

"Oh, Ria," Sakura whispered, "you are such a beautiful boy. If only your mother saw you."

"She'd be proud." Ino leaned against the door frame with her arms crossed over her chest. "Come on, Sakura, let's get out of here." She walked over toward her and helped her back onto her feet. She helped her leave their dead friend.

They headed to the nursery, and Sakura spotted Ria's twin immediately. She was sound asleep and wrapped in a light pink blanket. Her one thumb was in her mouth as her other hand grasped her ear while she quietly dreamed. Suzu must've been the prettiest baby she'd ever seen with her thin white hair and powdery snow skin. Sakura could already imagine her brother protecting her from boys as they grew older which made her smile.

Ino took Ria away from her and went into the nursery, placing him in his own crib next to his sister. Now that they were next to each other, Sakura could see just how identical they were. In fact, if it wasn't for the different colored blankets, Suzu could've been Ria and Ria could've been Suzu. She leaned up against the glass and was in awe. These children were the precious gifts left behind by Mai, and Sakura silently vowed to protect them with her life.

"Sakura-chan," it was a passing nurse whom Sakura had known from her night shifts. She was a bit surprised to see her at noon. "I was just looking for you."

"What is if?" She asked.

"Your friends have woken, and I thought you'd want to tell them the news."

"Alright, I'll tell them. What room again?"

"206, second floor." The nurse said and entered the nursery.

Sakura slowly made her way to the second floor. She took the stairs instead of the elevator, giving her more time to think about how she was going to tell them. She knew that Shikamaru would take it the worse, but Yuki would find some way to blame herself. Dreading the next few minutes, Sakura opened room 206's door and entered.

The room was like any other and was filled with several empty cots. One looked as if it had been used and Yuki remained on hers. She sat up with her legs close to her chest and her arms wrapped securely around her legs. Her eyes were red and puffy as if she'd been crying and her brilliant red hair was all disheveled. She looked over at Sakura with her saddened expression. Sakura could see Shikamaru over by the window. He had cracked it open so that he could smoke.

"I didn't know you smoked." Sakura said as she went to sit at the foot of Yuki's cot.

"Only when I'm troubled." He responded and released a large puff of gray smoke.

Sakura let him smoke even though it was against hospital rules to do so in a room, but this was a special case. She looked over at Yuki and saw how distraught the woman was. "Come here, Yuki." Holding her arms open wide, Sakura beckoned for her former pupil. Though Sakura was only one year older, there were times when she'd forget Yuki still held a lot of innocence.

"How's Mai-senpai?" She whimpered. "Can we see her?"

"I don't think you should."

"Why? Is she mad at us?" Yuki's eyes were wide and glassy.

"No, she's not mad at you."

"Then why—"

"Because she's dead." Shikamaru snapped and threw the cigarette bud out the window.

Sakura cringed when he said it aloud, and Yuki buried her head in Sakura's arms. Her sobs could be seen in the rapid rise and fall of her shoulders and the muffled scream caught in her throat. Sakura pat the top of her head and smoothed her back, reassuring her that someone was there for her. "It's okay, it's okay." She turned her head to face Shikamaru, "How did you know?"

"Her chakra presence disappeared." He wouldn't look at Sakura and instead faced the window.

She could see his face because of the reflection on the window and saw that his eyes were red and puffy as well. He clenched his hand and she saw that it was red and a bit bloodied. Sakura didn't remember him hitting his hand in the battle earlier and so she looked around the room for any clues. There was a hole about the size of a man's fist punched into the wall by the door. It didn't look as though it went right through but there was a good size dent in the wall.

"You loved her, didn't you?" Sakura asked.

His whole body tensed and he didn't respond right away, but she could see in the reflection that the question took him off guard. Shikamaru's eyes were wide and a bit fearful, but there was also a hint of something else that Sakura couldn't make out. "It's not like it seems."

"But you did love her, right?" She insisted on knowing.

"Yes, but it wasn't like that." He sighed. "I wasn't in love with her. It was more like a brother-sister kind of love, like what you'd consider your relationship with Naruto would be."

Sakura hesitated, not sure how to respond to that, but ended up saying, "I'm sorry, Shikamaru."

He hit his hand against the window, startling the girls—even causing a yelp from Yuki—but no respond came from Sakura except a small shutter. "I should've stopped him. I was careless."

"It wasn't your fault!" Yuki nearly screamed. "It was all mine! I was the one who called him over, and I was the one who couldn't protect her! I failed to protect my senpai...I'm a failure...I'm a failure..." she trailed off as her sobs got caught in her throat.

Sakura was shocked. She knew that Yuki was going to take the news badly, but she had no idea that this woman was capable of causing so much grief to herself. Sakura pulled the girl from her body and looked at her. Her eyes were red and bloodshot as well as puffy underneath. There were red blotches on her cheeks and her make up was running away with her tears. Her lower lip was pushed forward as she tried to keep herself from bursting out like that again, but her restraint was limited at this point.

Sakura was astound at Yuki. She was causing too much blame to herself. "It was NOT your fault." She sternly told the girl. "If it was anyone's fault, it would be mine. I could've stopped her from embracing him, but I let her go anyway. I don't know why I thought that would work, but it was my fault for her death...not yours..." Trailing off, her own realization was starting to surface. She didn't want to blame herself but now that she was reflecting upon what happened, it was clear that it was in fact her fault.

"Sakura...senpai...?" Yuki pulled away from the woman to get a good look at her. It was clear that Sakura was trying not to cry, but it was also clear that she just wanted to bawl her eyes out.

The entire room went silent as everyone got lost in their own thoughts. Silent tears started to trail down Sakura's cheeks while Shikamaru lit up another cigarette and stared out the window. Yuki wiped her tears was reduced to sniffling, now exchanging roles with her senpai and was trying to calm her down by patting her back. She was also whispering the same exact words that Sakura used on her, but they didn't have the same effect. There was evidence to prove that Yuki wasn't at fault, but Sakura was the last conscious teammate and she didn't do anything...

There was a knock at the door, but no one made a move to acknowledge it. Yuki disregarded it while trying to soothe Sakura's silent sobs, and Shikamaru just inhaled another puff of his cigarette, a nasty habit he developed from his former sensei. Because no one answered the door, it gave the person on the other side to come in. Luckily, it was someone who was welcomed, well, at least in Shikamaru's case.

Kurenai had opened the door with a little girl by her side. Kurenai was dressed in a simple red dress with a light blue t-shirt underneath; her hair was let down so that it framed her face. She wasn't wearing any make up which meant that she must've rushed over to the hospital. Before she could rush over toward Shikamaru, her darling daughter had beaten her to him. She was Kurenai's and Asuma's child and it was clear just by looking at her. Most people mistook her for a clone of Kurenai, but that wasn't true. Sure, she had the red eyes and black hair like her mother, but the way her eyes were set and the shape of her head was clearly from her father. Also, she was more tomboyish and active than other girls as she already started training as a ninja and entered the Academy a few months ago. She wore a red shirt that was too oversized and fell off her one shoulder but a mesh shirt could be seen underneath.

"Nii-san! Nii-san!" The young girl cried as she ran into Shikamaru's leg. She grabbed his entire calf and nuzzled into his pant leg.

"Asaka-chan, what are you doing here?" He asked as he tried to put out his cigarette; he'd told Kurenai that he'd quit ages ago and so neither child nor mother knew that he smoked.

"Kaa-chan and I heard that you were in a fight. Are you okay?" Asaka looked up at him with her big, wide red eyes.

He patted her head and smiled at her. It was his way of saying he was okay without saying anything because if he was to say something, it'd be how much at fault he was for the death of someone close to him. He didn't want to relive that pain again, especially not in front of his former sensei's daughter.

Kurenai, though, could sense that he was hiding something from them. She figured this out not because both Sakura and Yuki were in tears nor because it was Shikamaru's silence, but because her intuition had kicked in. There was something in his eyes that told her the same thing as when he gave her the news about Asuma. "Asaka-hime," she cooed to the girl, "can you wait in here while kaa-chan and nii-san talk outside?"

"Hn," she nodded. "Okay." Asaka went to sit on one of the cots while she watched her mother and Shikamaru exit the room to talk. She looked over and saw Sakura and Yuki both trying to dry their eyes. "Are you sad?" She asked them.

They were startled by the girl's question. Yuki looked at Sakura and Sakura looked at her back. They both exchanged looks for a few seconds before Sakura decided that it was best to say something to her. So, mustering what she had left in her, Sakura began, "Well, you see, a friend of ours was admitted here."

"Is she sick?"

"Um...well—"

"No," Yuki answered. "She came here to have her baby."

"Awww! A baby! Can I see?" She asked, quite innocently as her eyes sparkled with extreme interest.

"She didn't have a baby." Sakura muttered, causing Yuki to look at her with fear and Asaka to stare at her with confusion. "She had twins." She finished, allowing her pupil to release her breath and Kurenai's daughter to take in gust of air.

"Twins?" She was excited and really wanted to see them now.

"Twins?" Yuki was astounded. She knew Mai was supposed to have a baby but two? What other news could happen today?

Sakura nodded. "Yes, a boy and a girl."

"What are their names?" Asaka asked while Yuki listened quietly.

"The boy's name is Ria and the girl's name is Suzu."

"Ria and Suzu..." Asaka muttered their names. "Can I go see them now? Please?" She pleaded and pushed her lower lip forward, hopefully convincing the medical ninja.

"I guess it couldn't hurt to show you them." Sakura thought aloud. "Plus, Yuki-chan hasn't seen them yet. I can take you both." She smiled, trying to swallow her sorrow and putting on a brave face.

Sakura got off the cot and walked over to take Asaka's hand. The little didn't hesitate and happily took her hand, a large grin placed on her face as her eyes smiled up at her as well. She smiled back at her, trying to keep her innocence intact, and walked out of the room with Yuki following their lead. They saw Kurenai wide-eyed as her make up streaked down her face—Shikamaru must've told her the news—and she acknowledged that her daughter was with Sakura before looking back at the Nara. He kept his gaze off the young girl and comrades as he tried to keep himself composed.

Asaka looked up at Sakura after seeing the look in Shikamaru's eyes and asked, "Why is nii-san acting like that?"

Sakura looked to Yuki but got no response. "Well, he's just telling your mother about what happened is all." She smiled again, trying to keep the mood light as Yuki reverted back to sniffling.

When they finally got down to the nursery, Asaka released Sakura's hand and rushed over to the window, peering in to see the twins. She was sure that she'd pick them out since she believed all twins looked alike—even though that wasn't true except in this case. As the other girls caught up to her, Asaka had already picked the twins out. She pointed to the two babies with identical snow white hair and creamy skin.

"There they are!" She cried as she jumped up and down.

Sakura had already knew that she'd pick out the babies since they were the only identical looking ones there and simply nodded and smiled when she approached the window herself. "Yeah, there they are."

"Which one's which?" Yuki asked as she pressed her face up against the glass. It was a bit of a dumb question considering that one was dressed in a blue blanket while the other was in pink. "Oh, wait, never mind."

"Do you want to see them up close?" She asked Asaka.

The girl nodded furiously as she rushed to the door. It was only accessible with a key card, of which Sakura had. She opened the door and Asaka ran over to Suzu's crib, being attached to the girl right away while Ria was left all by himself. As both Yuki and Asaka cooed over Suzu, Sakura walked over to Ria's crib and picked him up. He had been sleeping but instead of crying when woken up he simply opened his eyes. She wasn't prepared for that. His eyes were a brilliant shade of pure gold. They sparkled like the sun on a summer's day, just before it was giving signs of setting. He yawned and actually smiled at her, reaching up for her for no particular reason.

He giggled with his eyes as he squirmed in her arms. She was standing there with her jaw dropped. It quickly vanished into a smile and her eyes softened up. Holding this child in her arms had changed something about her. It made her want to smother this little boy with as much love as she could possibly provide. This little boy was indeed Mai and Ziom's child.

"Sakura?"

The pink kunoichi looked up from the baby's face to see Ino standing in the doorway, a bit stunned. Her blonde hair was pulled up into a ponytail like it had been only an hour ago, but she had changed out of her nurse's uniform. Her eyes were wide with surprise for some reason that remained caught in her throat.

"Ino? What's wrong?" She put Ria back down in his crib and walked over to her friend.

"I though someone came and got you already." She muttered.

"What do you mean?"

Ino hesitated, even though she knew time was running out. "Sasuke's on trial."

"What? Where?"

"Hokage's building—"

Sakura took off running at top speed. She'd figured that Yuki could take care of Asaka while she went over to the Hokage's building. It was that far either so hopefully the trial had just started. She was a bit surprised and angry that the trial had started earlier than scheduled, especially today of all days. If she was to go there and find out he was sentenced to life in prison or worse...death, she wouldn't know what to do.

The image of Ria, smiling up at her with his large golden eyes, crept into her mind as she raced faster to the building. It was followed by another image of Sasuke. He was sleeping soundly in her bed for once as he finally got a peaceful night's sleep. The two images meshed together and she saw a smiling baby boy with Sasuke's black hair and eyes smiling up at her. He reached for her while being held in her arms. She was nearly brought to tears as the image started to slip away from her, realizing that that reality could be taken away from her very easily if she didn't make it in time. 'Please, let me reach him in time.' she thought to herself as she burst through the Tsunade's doors.


	11. Why the Caged Bird Sings

Chapter 11

Why the Cage Bird Sings

She ran into Tsunade's office. Sakura's heartbeat had risen exponentially as the anticipation and nervousness took over her conscious thoughts. Her breath was caught in her throat as the pounding in her ears grew in sync with her heart. She slowly approached Tsunade's desk, the Hokage's chair was turned around facing the window. Sakura hesitated in speaking up, but there was no need. The chair slowly turned around, revealing the least likely person she'd believe to be there.

It definitely wasn't Tsunade, the Hokage, who had turned around in the Hokage's chair. It was none other than Sasuke. His hair had grown down to his shoulders—she made a mental note about cutting it—and his eyes seemed dull and deprived of light. He wore gray, unflattering clothes that made him look malnourished and starved.

He opened his mouth to say something but the words wouldn't come. So, he sat there dumb with his mouth agape. She didn't care, though, because she reached across the desk and took his face in her hands. Before he could react, Sakura had already pressed her lips to his with much vigor and joy. Her body was moving on its own as her one knee came up onto the desk followed by the second. She crawled across the desk as he sunk further back into his seat, causing paperwork and other objects to fall off the desk.

She had gotten off the desk and went to sit in his lap, all the while keeping her lips locked with his. Her hands ran through his unusually long hair as his arms wrapped around her waist. Her legs locked themselves securely around his waist and he only tightened his hold on her. She smiled then against his lips, giving him leverage to break away and breathe.

"Sakura," he whispered as his breath bounced off her face.

"Sasuke," she imitated him. "I've missed you." She could feel tears of happiness start to build up behind her eyes but refused to release them.

He touched her cheek and caressed the side of her face, slowly running his hand through her long, strawberry hair. She fell into his touch and closed her eyes as he slowly brought her head to lean against his chest, nuzzling into the crook of his neck. He pat her hair, realizing that she had grown as well since the last time he saw her. Giving a slight smirk at the idea, Sasuke held onto this moment with every fiber of his being.

As she sat there in his lap and her head perfectly cradled in his hold, she couldn't help but to think back to that night he was taken away. The entire incident kept replaying in her mind and there was one particular quote that she couldn't get out of her head. In fact, she had blurted it out under her last breath, "How can I protect someone that I love if I don't have the power to do so?"

"Sakura?"

She pulled her head away from the warmth of his touch to look at his face. His eyes were softer, but she could easily detect the surprise and distance that were hidden deep within them. Smiling, she lightly touched her lips with his and pulled back away to see his stunned face. "I felt defenseless when I heard your trial was going on. It scared me that I would never see you again, and it made me feel so powerless to do something for you." She explained. "I am a strong shinobi who's only used her power to protect those whom she loves, but when I'm in that situation, I'm defenseless and powerless."

He tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear before speaking, "I understand, but you don't have to worry anymore." Pulling up his sleeve, he showed her his bare arm which three months ago was tattooed with black markings and such to keep him confined. Her eyes grew wide at this and he nearly smirked again. "Let me redeem myself and protect you from now on."

"I love you, Sasuke."

"I know," he kissed her. "I love you, Sakura."

She smiled, "I know."

"Ahem."

Sakura turned around in Sasuke's lap to see the blonde Hokage standing in the doorway with her arms crossed over her chest. She seemed a bit annoyed that people were using her office for something as intimate as this, evident of her twitching eye, but she didn't seem fazed by Sasuke's presence. Blushing, Sakura got off of his lap and went to stand behind him as he remained in the chair, his hands locked firmly on the rests. He grinned a bit menacingly but Sakura knew that it was all for show.

"And what, might I ask," Tsunade started, trying to keep her temper down, "are you two doing in my office?"

"Tsunade-sama?" Shizune's voice could be heard down the hall with a follow up squeal from Tonton the pig. "Tsunade-sama?"

"Um...I can explain...?" Sakura searched her brain for a good excuse, but nothing would come up.

"I bet you can." She grinned, her smile as menacing as Sasuke's. "For now, though, I'd like you to leave. I'm very busy today as you can see and I can't afford any interruptions."

"Hai," Sakura nodded and grabbed Sasuke's wrist. To his surprise, she easily forced him from the chair, wiping that grin off his face.

They didn't get far, though, because Shizune was now standing in the doorway as Tsunade had just sat down in her chair. "Tsunade-sama, have you heard the news?" The woman's face was drenched in sweat and her eyes were wild with fear and surprise.

"What's wrong, Shizune?"

She pushed past Sakura and Sasuke to slam a document on the Hokage's desk. "We have a problem," she flipped it open to the first page. It was Ziom's portfolio and stats as a ninja with a piece of paper from Mai's portfolio. "At 12:24, this afternoon, Sintessa Mai was stabbed and killed by Katorabe Ziom." She reported.

Sakura had frozen in place, the memories flooding into her mind. Sasuke could feel her uneasiness and tension in her grip, but she wouldn't budge. Instead, he simply squeezed her hand, trying to get a response from her but to no avail. He simply remained silent to listen to what happened.

"Mai's been killed?" Tsunade repeated, a bit skeptical that Ziom of all people would have killed her. "What happened? Where is he? How are the babies?" These were all questions of which had entered Sakura's mind at the same time, expect for the baby part.

"The babies are fine." Sakura spoke mechanically. "They are surprisingly healthy for being premature."

"They?" Shizune was caught off guard. "Wasn't she having one baby?"

"No, that should be correct. She was scheduled to have twins," Tsunade was the only one who knew of Mai's expectations. Maybe it was because she was Hokage or because she was the one who was going to deliver the baby...babies. "Anyway, they're fine?"

Sakura nodded.

"Thank goodness." She sighed. "Now, tell me, what happened? Were you there, Sakura?" She asked, waiting for her apprentice's answer.

She nodded again, hesitant to speak. Sasuke squeezed her hand again to reassure her, and surprisingly, she felt a bit better. Sakura told the entire story starting from the time she met up with Mai to when she went to tell Shikamaru and Yuki that Mai had died. There were many pauses in the story as she contemplated on if certain parts were relevant or not, but after repeating what happened allowed, she felt as if she needed to be alone. As much as she wanted to be with Sasuke, she just wanted to curl into a ball and hide away from the shame she felt from letting her friend die right before her eyes.

After the story, the room was heavy with a palpable tension. It was as silent as death, though the analogy wasn't very good in this case, but it was true. No one moved and no one breathed, let alone talked. It was the longest moment of silence in her entire life.

"Hokage-sama," it was ANBU agent who seemed to materialize in the room. He was kneeling before Tsunade as he awaited for her acknowledgment. She nodded and he continued, "My men and I were tracking down Katorabe Ziom after a few witnesses reported him stabbing a bystander. We had cornered him at the entrance to the village when a giant ball of lightning engulfed him. By the time we could react, there were no traces of him left."

Sakura gasped and clutched Sasuke's arm. He brought her closer to his body to hide her head in his arms while she bit back her sobs. Tsunade simply bit her lip as she deliberated what to do next.

"Search the outskirts of the village to be sure. If you can't find any remains or you find signs that he had escaped, report back immediately. Also, send two or three men to fetch and bring Tchakara-sama to my office." Her voice held great authority as it didn't waver the slightest bit.

The agent nodded and disappeared in thin air, just like he arrived.

"Sakura," Tsunade redirected her attention back to her apprentice, "go back to the hospital and watch over those children. If there is the slightest problem, contact me." Sakura nodded, she turned toward Shizune, "Shizune, prepare for Tchakara-sama's departure."

"Yes, Tsunade-sama." She bowed and left the office in a hurry.

"Tsunade-sama?" Sakura piped up. Her master had acknowledged her presence once again so she continued, "What's going to happen to Ria and Suzu?"

"They'll be at the hospital under protection for a few days." It was her immediate answer, but it still didn't answer what Sakura was most worried about.

She shook her head. "No, I mean, what's going to happen to them after they get out of the hospital? Where are they going to live?"

Tsunade opened her mouth but quickly closed it as she thought for a minute. "I don't know yet."

"Then, might I offer my place? I can watch them once you find them a place to live." She volunteered and Sasuke simply looked at her with astonishment. Sakura noticed his staring but ignored it.

"I guess that would be doable."

"Thank you, Tsunade-sama." She smiled and bowed. Sakura exited the office with Sasuke keeping close to her, his look of surprise was still painted on his face but was quickly wiped off when they bumped into someone on the stairs.

Naruto had a determined look in his eyes as they passed him. She figured that he'd just heard the news about Mai. Gossip traveled quickly in this village so it wouldn't be so surprising if he already knew. The only thing that surprised her was how upset he looked. It wasn't as if Mai and Naruto were the best of friends, in fact, they had barely any contact with each other unless Sakura was with them, so why was he so upset? Maybe it was the fact that Ziom—an actual friend of his—had killed someone so close to everyone and then disappeared. Not to mention abandoning his own children.

She turned around to say something to him, but she couldn't say anything. There was nothing to say or, at least, she couldn't form anymore words. Her throat had tightened and started to constrict, making her voice inaudible. Sasuke didn't turn around to see his friend, probably already knowing what the blonde ninja was up to, but what was surprising was that Naruto didn't even notice him. It didn't look like he cared, but Sakura could only wonder what went through the Uchiha's mind.

"Come, Sakura," Sasuke whispered in her ear as he pushed her along, "we have to go."

She nodded and started to continue down the stairs and toward the hospital as if she was on autopilot.

* * *

><p>When they reached the hospital, there were more familiar faces there in the waiting room by the lobby. Sakura could see various ninja that Mai had interacted with and then there were the faces of her friends, staring at her with curious and sorrowful eyes. Neji was leaning against a wall, his eyes closed and arms crossed, while Tenten sat in a chair with an impatient and thoughtful look in her eyes, and Lee was doing push-ups as he waited. Sai was sitting on the couch with Ino's face buried in his chest as his arms were wrapped around her. For once, he didn't look out of place as he generally tried to comfort the blonde kunoichi. Kiba had showed up as well and was sitting next to Yuki, who still seemed dazed, as Akamaru sat at their feet with his head down. Shino wasn't that far away as he imitated Neji and kept silent by the window. Kakashi was also there, surprisingly, as he leaned back in a chair with a book in his hand. Kurenai was dozing off in a chair as Asaka sat with Shikamaru and Chouji, keeping the Nara distracted from the atmosphere. And lastly, Hinata was sitting by herself in a chair twiddling her thumbs in anxiousness.<p>

The entire gang was there with the exception of Naruto who was back at the Hokage's office. Sakura suspected that he was trying to get to the bottom of this and was either still back there or he was making his way over to the hospital. She squeezed Sasuke's hand, and they both made their way over to the gang. Sasuke complied and stayed by her side as they were spotted by Asaka.

"Sakura-chan!" She smiled as she got up from Shikamaru's lap and ran over to the pink haired kunoichi. Her smile was warm and wide. "They opened their eyes!" She told her excitedly, clearly talking about the twins.

"Really?" Sakura knelt down to match Asaka's eyesight as she shot her a half hearted smile. It took a lot of effort for her to do that, but she did it for the girl. "That's great."

"Um, Sakura-chan, who's this?" She asked as she pointed to Sasuke.

Sakura followed the girl's eyes and knew immediately that she was talking about Sasuke. Again, giving the girl a smile, she simply replied warmly, "This is Uchiha Sasuke."

"Hello, Sasuke-san." She said formally.

"Sakura-senpai!" Yuki called out and hugged her. "What did you discuss with Hokage-sama?"

She looked at Sasuke and then back at Yuki, taking a deep breath before speaking. "I told her what happened."

"Anything else?"

"No, but there was someone from the ANBU there. He said that Ziom had committed suicide at the village entrance."

"What?" It wasn't Yuki who gasped, but everyone in the room. Of course they had been eavesdropping on the conversation, especially since it was such a small room to begin with. It wasn't hard to overhear anyone talking at this point.

"They had cornered him at the village's entrance, and he performed a Raiton jutsu. He either used it to kill himself or he escaped, but considering the severity of what happened, it wouldn't surprise me if he committed suicide." Sasuke explained to everyone for Sakura who couldn't bring herself to say anything.

"How can he do that?" Tenten asked. "I mean, he has two kids without a mother. He just left them to defend for themselves?" She was clearly outraged.

"I don't blame him." Hinata piped up. "I mean, I don't like what he did, but have any of you ever been that in love that the thought about losing that person would drive you crazy? He was the one who killed her." She reminded them.

"I agree with Hinata on this one." Kiba said, his arms crossed in front of his chest and his eyes closed off from everyone. "The guy was depressed and wasn't thinking."

"But he has children!" Tenten argued. "Some father..." she muttered.

Kurenai had woken up when Hinata had made her comment. She was all too familiar to this topic so it was about the right time to say something. "It doesn't matter." She said and the room fell quiet. Asaka went over to her mother and climbed into her lap as she laid back into her mother's arms. "Once you lose that special person, it's hard to get back on your feet again with or without the thought of a child to take care of."

"Sensei..." The three members of Team 8 all muttered.

"I mean, yes, he could've taken it better, but also he was the one who killed her." She continued. "I don't know what that's like, but I do understand the loss of your lover. It's a painful feeling." Kurenai tightened her hold on her daughter.

The room remained silent, and Sakura was reminded of Tsunade's office, though this silence wasn't as painful as the last time. It also didn't last long as Yuki had interrupted its silence. "Um, Sakura-senpai?"

"Hm?"

"What's going to happen to Ria and Suzu?" She asked.

Sakura paused as she tried to word this right. "About that, Ria and Suzu are gonna come home with me in a couple of days as Tsunade-sama finds a suitable foster family."

"What?" Shikamaru asked. He got up from his seat a bit slowly. His emotions weren't twisted into anger but more of a disbelief as if he didn't think the Hokage would've done something like that. "What do you mean she's finding a foster home?"

"They can't stay in a hospital forever." Ino told him, putting her hands on her hips and finally allowing everyone to see her red and puffy eyes.

"I know that," he exasperated. "What I mean is why is she looking for a foster family? We're more than capable of taking care of a couple of kids."

"Shikamaru," Kakashi spoke, finally entering the conversation and putting his book down, "are you forgetting the difficulties of being a parent? You have no true experience in this department. For a genius like you, I would've believed that you'd be the first person to realize this."

"He's right." Neji agreed. "If it was easy raising kids, we'd all do it. You may not want to believe this right now, but Hokage-sama cares about this just as much as you. That's why she's going to take her time to find a household that will love these children."

Tenten awed, "Neji, I had no idea that you thought that way."

He blushed in response but kept his mouth shut.

"Tch," Shikamaru felt agitated which was understandable. "I need some air." He left the hospital, most likely for a smoke.

"Nii-san..." Asaka muttered. It was clear that the girl wanted to chase after "brother."

"Don't worry about him, Asaka-hime." Her mother whispered to her. "He'll be back."

"By the way," Hinata muttered, "it's nice to see you again, Sasuke-san."

"Oh, yeah, I almost forgot that your trial was today." Kiba commented. "How'd it go?"

He got a couple of glares, and Kiba simply shrugged. It wasn't his fault that he wasn't observant when it came this stuff.

"Well, he's not dead or in jail, so how do you think it went?" Ino glared at him.

"Excuse me, Ino, but there are other things that could've happened." He huffed and sat back angrily in his chair.

Sakura smiled as they continued to banter back and forth. When Sasuke had first woken up six months ago, only Naruto and herself really were happy that he was awake and back. Now, everyone seems to have taken Sasuke's presence as nothing more than a lost friend who's returned back to the village, even after everything he'd done to the Konoha shinobi. Sasuke saw Sakura's genuine smile and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her away from the rest of the ninjas. They walked down the hospital halls in silence, Sakura holding on tightly to him as if he was going to disappear if she were to let go.

* * *

><p>They had stopped in front of the nursery. She could see Ria and Suzu sleeping soundly in their cribs and felt her heart call out to them. They were about to leave, but it looked as if Ria was woken up and was making a fuss on the other side, so she walked in there. Sasuke wasn't too far behind her as he slowly walked in after her. She picked up Ria and cradled him her arms. The child immediately calmed down when he was picked up.<p>

He opened his eyes at her and they were a bright amber, just like his father's. She smiled softly at him and he cooed right back. Ria was a happy and healthy little boy, which made Sakura really happy. He giggled as she tickled him, and because he was giggling, Ria had woken up his sister.

"Sasuke, could you hold him for me?" She walked over to him. He simply stared at her and then at the baby. She pushed Ria closer and closer to him and he had no choice but to take the baby from her. Smiling at him, she turned around and went over to Suzu who waited for Sakura. "Calm down, baby." She hushed.

Suzu reached up for her, stretching her fingers in anticipation. She picked up the little girl and was happy to see a smile on her face, but was surprised when she opened her eyes. They were just like her mother's with their bright, happy violet hue. Sakura could see intelligence in her gaze and an infinite future. She believed that this little girl could live the life her mother didn't.

Sakura turned around to face Sasuke. She saw him expertly cradling the baby boy as his attention was completely taken by him. After seeing that, she couldn't help but to smile. Sasuke didn't look too bad with a baby in his arms and a father's love in his eyes. He saw her looking at him and glared at her. She chuckled to herself and walked over to him. Suzu seemed to recognize her brother as their hands touched each other and they both giggled. Sakura grinned for the hundredth time and she noticed how Sasuke shot a smirk as well, his way of showing happiness.

"Aren't they precious?" She whispered, not wanting to disturb the atmosphere.

He nodded, barely hearing her.

"It kinda makes you wanna have one of your own, doesn't it?"

Sasuke's attention was immediately on her. She gave him a sly smile as simply stared back at her. "Are you serious?"

"Maybe," she looked down at Suzu with awe for the child. It was as if she was holding a baby Mai reincarnate. "They are cute, aren't they?"

* * *

><p>He could see the scenery pass him as his body acted automatically and was running through the forest. Ziom had no intentions of abandoning his consequences but it felt as though there was someone in his body, controlling the one thing he had left—no, scratch that—he didn't even have his freedom. At that thought, he felt defeated as if an internal conflict had just been decided, and he was the loser. Feeling the defeat wash over him, Ziom allowed his body to move on its own and wished for this all to end.<p>

But just as he gave up, his wish didn't come true. Instead, his body stopped moving miles outside the village limits, and he realized he was on the border of the Land of Fire. He had been traveling since that afternoon, and now as the sun was setting, he hadn't really realized how much ground he could cover. It was nothing to be impressed about, though. It was simply a surprise to him.

There was a flare of chakra as if there were several ninjas approaching him. Ziom thought that the ANBU had finally caught up to him, but as he closed his eyes to accept his consequence, the large mass had dissipated into a single being. His eyes flashed open, and he tried to reach for one of his blades but his hand wouldn't move. The figure emerged from the trees very slowly, and he was right, the ANBU had caught up to him. She had long, silk black hair that was tied back into loops on either side of her head and the third strand was tied back into a high ponytail. She wore an ANBU's standard uniform with two fans strapped to her hips and her mask looked feline with two blue streaks across her eyes and six purple streaks as whiskers. This woman walked over toward him as he remained frozen in place against his will.

She placed her hand on his chest and removed her mask. He didn't understand why she was doing this, but that was soon forgotten when he saw her identity. Never would he have imagined her to be Tchakara, especially in a Konoha ANBU's uniform. Her rosy lips parted, turning upward into a smile and sharpening her already angular features. She moved her hand upward from his chest to his cheek. The touch of her skin against his was as if she took a hot metal poker to his face. He cringed at her touch.

"Don't worry my love. You won't be spotted her." She kissed him on his cheek and that burnt worse than her hand. It felt as if she left an imprint on the side of his face.

"What are you talking about?" He could at least speak.

She looked at him with illuminated eyes. They were as black as night but they glowed like something unworldly and mystical. They were very hypnotic, but her voice and the touch to his face broke him out of that. "What do you mean, darling?" Her speech and attitude changed completely from that afternoon.

"That," he nearly spat. "Your speech changed. And what do you mean, 'Not being spotted'? I want to be caught."

"I won't ever let that happen. You are mine now." She changed again. Her voice was very possessive and was full of much authority.

"I am yours?" He growled. Great animosity overtook him as his mind raged and he wanted to lash out, but because of his frozen body, he couldn't do so.

"Yes, and I always get what I want." Tchakara put much emphasis on the word "always" before she pressed her lips to his.

He didn't kiss back and instead bit down onto her lower lip, causing blood to trickle down her chin. She pulled back, wiped the blood off, and smiled. It was a menacing smile belonging to that of a demon. Ziom could taste the warm, rusted-iron blood in his mouth, but before he could do anything about it, she had forcefully brought her lips back to his. This time his body moved against his will and kissed back, and instead of tasting blood, Ziom could taste something sinister and unnatural force its way into his mouth and into his body.

She pulled away again and whatever had entered his body was still and silent, nuzzling itself in the pit of his stomach. "Oniton: Kitsunetsuki."

"Kitsunetsuki—?" He fell to the ground and writhed in pain as the same sinister feeling started to spread throughout this body. Ziom couldn't tell if he was screaming or suffering in silence nor did he care, but one thing he was sure about was that he was fighting.

His vision went black and he could feel precious memories start to slip away. Ziom could no longer see Mai's face except in its last bloodied state and all memories of seeing his son vanished. As far as he could remember, he no longer had a son. As those memories faded, so did the faces of all his friends in Konoha. He could no longer remember what Konoha looked like. The bloody and painful memories of the Fourth Shinobi War remained, but he never met Mai. In fact, as far as he knew, he was still apart of Kagegakure. He also believed that he was engaged to Damnitake Tchakara and he was to be the next Shadow Daimyo.

After the pain subsided, he opened his eyes. He was in an unfamiliar forest with only one thing—person who was familiar, Tchakara. She was kneeling beside him in a Konoha ANBU uniform. He could recognize that uniform anywhere because of his days in the war.

He looked up at her with confused and curious eyes. "Kara-chan, what am I doing here?"

"Oh, Zi-kun! You're awake!" She wrapped her arms around his neck and nuzzled into him as if he'd been unconscious for days.

"Why are you dressed like that?" He asked as she loosened her grip.

"Don't you remember?"

He shook his head.

"We were attacked by Konoha ninja. I stole this uniform to fool them and keep them away from here while you rested. I'm so happy that you're awake now." She kissed him on the lips, and though he was stunned at first, he kissed back. It felt foreign at first but as the seconds ticked on, he soon felt familiar to her touch.

When they broke apart, he still had questions to ask. "What was I doing before I became unconscious?"

"Don't you remember our mission?" She asked and he shook his head. "We were ordered to assassinate a kunoichi of Konoha. We were on our way back from our mission when ANBU agents caught up to us. You protected me, but got hit in the head. I managed to get you this far without them noticing you, but we're not out of the clear yet. We still have to make it back to the village."

"Right," he shook his head, hopefully bringing back his memories, but that did nothing. He got up from the ground and brushed himself off. "Let's go."

"Hm." She nodded and got to her feet as well.

They traveled through the trees as they made their way back to Kagegakure when suddenly Ziom felt many presences of chakra. He diverted from their path, causing Tchakara to chase after him, and went to search for the mass of chakra. It was a caravan of shinobi and bystanders. There was an unusual amount of shinobi crowded together in the center which meant that this was an escort. This escort with this many people wasn't for any old person. Whoever this was he or she must've been very important and they seemed to be heading in the same direction as Tchakara and himself.


	12. Parenthood

Chapter 12

Parenthood

It felt as though she had just rested her head on her pillow when the cry of an infant had woken her up from a fleeting second of sleep. She rolled over onto her back as the baby continued to cry. Sakura reached out for Sasuke and when she felt no one next to her, she panicked. Propping herself up, she groggily looked around in the dark and saw that she was all alone.

"That bastard," she mumbled as she pulled the covers off of her and walked over to the twins' crib.

Tsunade had come to the hospital the other day to check the twins' health since they were born three months premature. Though they were small—which was to be expected—their vitals seemed to be healthy so she allowed Sakura to take them home. Her shift at the hospital had ended later than she expected, so when she got home, she wasn't surprised to see Sasuke already asleep. Luckily, she had already set up their crib a few days ago. It had been hers when she was a baby, borrowing it from her mother for now.

Suzu had been the one who was crying and Sakura knew exactly why, so she took the baby into the kitchen. She balanced her in her arms as she heated a bottle of formula in her microwave. As that warmed up, she tried to soothe the baby girl by lightly bouncing her in her arms. The trick started to work as she started to calm down, and when the bottle was done and checked, Suzu eagerly took the bottle. Now, the room was filled with silence except for the tiny sucking sounds coming from Suzu. Exhaustion was starting to set in until familiar arms wrapped themselves around her waist and a kiss lightly brushed her neck.

"Where have you been," she hushed, not to disturb Ria in the other room, "Sasuke?"

He didn't respond and simply placed his chin on her shoulder, staring down at Suzu. She was nearly done her bottle.

"Were you up on the roof again?" She continued to question him, wanting to hear his voice after such a long and tiring day. But she felt him nod instead of vocally responding. "What did you do today?" Now this question wasn't going to be a yes or no answer, so hopefully she'd get him to respond.

The baby had finished her bottle and looked up at Sakura with her bright violet eyes and smiled a dimpled smile. Sakura was a bit surprised at the dimples since neither parent had them, but somehow it was fitting for Suzu. She smiled back and placed the bottle on her table beside her. Sasuke's arms left her as he went to lean against the counter with his arms crossed over his chest. Sakura went back into her room, put the baby back in the crib, tucked her in, and kissed her on the forehead before returning to the other room.

She walked right up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. His hands reacted to her and placed themselves on her hips as he slowly opened his eyes and touched his forehead to hers. "How was your day?" She asked.

"Not as exhausting as yours." He responded. "You should be in bed."

"I would be but the baby needed me, so now I'm awake." With every word, she got closer to his face until her lips rested against his on the word "awake." She kissed him tenderly, and as if it was automatic, he kissed her back. There was something distant about the kiss as he didn't put forth his usual vigor. Pulling back, she asked, "What's wrong?"

"Why do you think there's something wrong?" Clearly, he was trying to avoid the question.

"Did you forget that I'm a medical ninja?" She placed her hand where his ribs were and pressed down hard, causing the Uchiha to give a little grunt of pain. "What did you do this time?"

"I was just sparring to get my reflexes back." He winced as Sakura continued to inspect other parts of his body. "I decided to start with taijutsu and was working with Lee this afternoon."

"Are you crazy?" She was as loud as she could get without raising her voice and waking the babies. "You haven't trained or done anything in the past five and a half years, and you expect to keep up with Lee? Baka..."

"That's exactly why I have to train so hard. I've been out of commission for five and a half years, and there's no way I'm going to be left behind." He seemed genuinely troubled by this.

Sakura stopped her prodding and grabbed his face in her hands, carefully looking into his eyes. She saw his determination and a hint of fear, which almost brought a smile to her face in an almost cruel way. It wasn't that she liked his fear; it was just the thought of Sasuke having fear about something so normal was pleasing to her. She felt as though he was starting to really become apart of this village once again after so many years of being called a traitor.

"I love you so much, Sasuke." She kissed him again but this time it was filled with more vigor. He was a bit surprised, but this time he responded back immediately with life of his own. It didn't feel automatic but completely genuine as he pulled her closer to his body. Her tongue trailed his bottom lip as he turned around and put her on top of her counter.

His hands were fast and she was perfectly distracted as he unbuttoned her shirt. She felt the heat of his hands as they moved to unhook her bra. While he was distracted with that, Sakura went to lift his shirt off of him as he complied and allowed the material to slip right off his body. She ran her slender fingers down his chest and abs and noticed more bruises and welts that weren't there before. Sasuke didn't seem to notice her staring as he kissed the crook of her neck and placed his hands at the hem of her pants.

"Sasuke," she panted and he simply mumbled into her neck as a response. "I need to treat you."

He smiled and pulled away. "Are we going to play one of those games? I thought you were tired?" He joked.

"No, we're not playing a game. I seriously need to treat those wounds." She said sternly. He simply tsked but didn't fight her. She snapped her bra back together before placing her hands over his ribs first where the pain had seemed the worst. "Stop complaining. If you let wounds like these go untreated, they can become infected and then it would not only be harder to treat but you'll complain even more."

"I'm fine and I didn't need any treatment." He muttered as he winced at the new pain in his abs that she was now treating.

"Maybe you should work on more chakra building exercise. I'm pretty sure your stamina has diminished as well, and that training shouldn't be as dangerous." She tried to convince him.

"Sakura, you don't have to worry about me." He had leaned in to whisper in her ear as she tried her best to concentrate on healing him.

"You don't understand, Sasuke. I do worry about you because I'm afraid of losing you." She admitted and ceased her medical treatment. Her hands had balled up in her lap as she diverted her gaze from his.

He placed a hand under her chin and brought her face up so that their eyes reconnected. "Sakura," he paused to lick his lips, "I don't want you to ever worry about that because I promise you I'll never leave you again."

"Oh, Sasuke!" She flung her arms around his neck, bringing him close to her and nearly causing her to fall off the counter. Sakura merely held him close as she buried her face in the crook of his neck.

Sasuke could feel her exhaustion and soon felt his own. So, he scooped Sakura up into his arms as she remained still in his arms, and he made his way into their bedroom. He went to lay her on the bed but her grip was like iron and she wouldn't let him go. Being as careful as possible, his body hovered over hers as he tried to climb over her now sleeping body. He smirked to himself as he plopped down onto his side of the bed and pulled the covers over the both of them. As soon as the blanket covered them, Sakura pulled herself closer to him and intertwined her legs with his as he slung an arm over her waist.

He gave her a light kiss on her forehead and she gave a pleasant sigh in response. "Good night, Sakura."

* * *

><p>It was one of the most pleasant dreams of her life, but when one of the babies awoke crying at the break of dawn, it vanished. All she was left with was a pleasurable feeling and a giddy mood even though she was sad that her dream had faded. Sakura didn't realize how tangled up she was with Sasuke until she went to move. Their legs were intertwined and his arms were securely wrapped around her, and if it wasn't for a crying baby, she'd want to stay like that forever. But sadly, she wriggled free of both his arms and legs and swung her feet over the edge of her bed.<p>

All of this moving must've woken up Sasuke because he reached out and grabbed her wrist, nearly pulling her back into his hold. "Where are you going?" He asked.

He pulled her back into bed and put the blanket back over her as he now sat on the edge of the bed. "I got this one. You go back to sleep." Sasuke then went over to the crib and picked up a screaming Ria, and almost immediately, the child was silent albeit for a few hiccups.

He knew this kid wasn't hungry because he could smell the problem before he even picked him up. Sasuke went into the kitchen where he'd seen the diaper bag the night before and placed Ria on a dish towel on the counter. Opening up the bag he pulled out what he needed to change a diaper—baby powder, baby wipes, and a fresh, clean diaper. This was going to be his first time changing a diaper but how hard could it be?

Opening the dirty diaper, he was impacted with the smell and turned his head from the sight. Sasuke knew it wasn't going to be a pleasant experience, but he had been in war and those memories weren't as messy as this diaper. He didn't know what to do now, so wanting to get the sight and smell out of the way, he threw out the dirty diaper. Then he decided to wipe the kid, but as he was finishing that up, Ria decided to use the bathroom again.

Urine sprayed everywhere as it arched and nearly hit Sasuke—luckily his reflexes were still good and he dodged the attack. He had released Ria's feet and was now standing beside the kid as he giggled at the Uchiha. He cocked an eyebrow and placed the clean diaper over the child, stopping the flow.

"You found that funny, huh?" He finished the diaper and picked Ria up, keeping eye contact with the boy. He could see what Sakura meant by him having the same golden eyes as his father as well as that natural intelligence, but there was this innocent warmth that they held which separated the two.

Someone was clapping and before he looked over, Sasuke knew it was Sakura in the doorway. She had a large grin plastered on her face as she made her way over to the two boys. Reaching out her hands, she was signaling to take Ria from him and he happily complied.

"That was very...entertaining." She stifled a giggle but not a smile. "Anyway, you're doing very well."

I'm not doing that again." He told her as if that was final.

She raised an eyebrow and turned her attention to Ria who was smiling in her arms. He cooed at her touch which brought a smile to her face. Sakura went over to the refrigerator and pulled out the baby formula. After she heated it to the right temperature, she handed Sasuke Ria and he easily cradled him, though he was wary of the boy. She then handed him the formula and taking the clue, he fed Ria the bottle.

'Now this is easy,' he thought as Ria easily took his breakfast.

Sakura watched as Sasuke stood there with the utmost patience. She would have never imagined that Uchiha Sasuke could ever be like this, especially after all the hell he'd caused for Naruto, herself, and all of Konoha—for that matter. This was all short lived, however, after he took the empty bottle away and Ria immediately spat up on him. She took the baby from him as he grabbed a paper towel and tried to clean his shirt. A vein started to pulse in his forehead as he avoided eye contact.

"Sasuke, don't get mad." She told him as she held the baby protectively. "This stuff happens all the time."

"All the time, huh? Then why has it only happened to me?" He asked through gritted teeth. It was obvious he was trying to keep his anger controlled.

"It's happened to me at the hospital, but I got through it." She sighed. "If you want, I can do the changing and feeding. Boys are trickier to change and Ria has a sensitive stomach."

He only grumbled as he threw the towel away.

"Come on and get changed." She told him as she took him by the arm.

"Why?"

"Because," Sakura looked back at him with a smile, "we're going to the park."

* * *

><p>Sasuke didn't like the park. He was expecting it to be a lot quieter, but instead it was filled with little kids ages five to ten, and they were all screaming. He thought that because it was colder there wouldn't be anyone, and he could have a nice quiet morning. Well, after today, the park was going on his DO NOT VISIT list. The only reason why he was here was because of Sakura.<p>

She had borrowed two strollers from the hospital and had bundled the babies up as they were too swollen with jackets, scarves, hats, and mittens to even wiggle around. Sasuke was "lucky" enough to push the girl, Suzu, around while Sakura took care of the boy.

Right now, he sat on a hill with Suzu's stroller right next to him as Sakura pushed Ria on a swing just a few feet away. The girl didn't make any noise and he was starting to like it, but after a few minutes went by, he thought she was getting awfully quiet. He got up and peered into her stroller to see her sound asleep as her breath was visible in the frozen air. He didn't know why but the next thing he knew, he was taking her out of the stroller and held her in his arms as he sat back down.

Suzu woke up from all the moving around, but she still didn't make a sound. She simply stared at him with those big round violet eyes of hers. He cradled her close to him because of the cold and looked down toward her. Just then, she smiled for him and Sasuke felt this overwhelming warmth seep into his body.

He sighed, "You know, if anyone saw me holding you, they'd think I grew too soft. And in this world, you can't be soft." She cooed at him and tried to reach for his face, but her clothes got in the way and she couldn't reach his face. Sasuke tried to hold back a smirk. "What's so funny?"

Suzu giggled even louder, and this time he couldn't hold back his smile.

"I'm not too good at all this but—"

"Sasuke?"

He turned around at the familiar voice and saw the-number-one-knucklehead-ninja of Konoha standing right behind him. He was dressed in heavier clothes than usual and was holding two cups of piping ramen. Naruto seemed a bit perplexed as to why Sasuke was in the park holding a small child.

"What are you doing here?" Naruto asked. He started to approach his friend.

"I should ask you the same thing, dobe." Sasuke muttered under his breath.

"I'm just passing by, but you on the other hand, are you smiling?" He sat down and carefully cradled his cups. Looking at what Sasuke was holding, Naruto couldn't help but to crack a smile. "Is that Suzu?"

"Sakura's taking care of them."

"So why are you holding her?"

Sasuke remained silent, and the grin on Naruto's face grew wider. Finally, Sasuke sheepishly muttered, "She told me to watch her."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Uh-huh, sure."

"Anyways, what are you doing with two cups of ramen? Are you some kind of pig?" Sasuke changed the subject.

Naruto laughed. "If you think two cups of ramen makes me a pig, clearly Sasuke, you've forgotten how much I can eat. But no, I'm just holding Hinata's cup while she went in a store. I think she saw something she liked."

"So, you and Hinata, huh?" Sasuke had no idea why he was talking about something so trivial as Naruto's love life, but as long as he wasn't the one being asked the dobe's questions it was all good.

Surprisingly, the blonde ninja had blushed. Sasuke wasn't sure if he'd ever seen him blush before except when he made silly passes at Sakura, of course. He looked nervous. "Uh, yeah. You know what? I think I really really like her."

"Do you mean love?"

He nodded.

Sasuke smirked because he knew that feeling. His eyes wandered down the hill toward the swing set where Sakura was still pushing Ria. Apparently that kid really liked to swing, either that or Sakura saw him and the dobe having a heart to heart and didn't want to disturb. He caught her eye and she winked at him and so far it looked like his second theory was the answer. "There's nothing wrong with that." He answered, surprisingly. Maybe this normal life thing wasn't going to be as hard as he thought, though he did feel a little weird that he was giving advice to Naruto.

"But I don't know if I can say the words." He said sheepishly.

"Sakura told me that Hinata already told you she loved you, is that right?"

He nodded.

"And you know you love her, right?"

He nodded again.

"Then what's the problem?"

He shrugged. "I've never told anyone that I loved them."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. He was sort of in the same book since he never told his father he loved him, and rarely ever told his mother or brother that he loved them. So, he was just as much out of practice as the dobe sitting next to him. But when he told Sakura that he loved her, which was hard to do, it felt right afterwards. Thinking back, he should've said it sooner. "Trust me, if you say it, you'll feel better."

Naruto turned to face Sasuke, "You know what? You've changed, Sasuke." He smiled, and Sasuke, trying to keep his cool composure, turned away—making Naruto's smile that much wider. "Well, just a little at least."

"Naruto? Naruto?" Hinata was calling just a little ways away. From here, Sasuke could see that she was wearing a dress despite the cold. It was a soft shade of lilac and gave her skin a sort of creaminess that could rival even Sakura's. She didn't completely neglect the cold chill as she wore a white overcoat and an oversized lilac hat with a white trim. Her raven hair blew in the wind, making it her only dark feature as her eyes were as light as the moonlight.

Sasuke cocked his head toward her. "Go on. And trust me, it'll be worth it."

Naruto gave his friend a grateful look before getting up and heading over toward his girlfriend. If there was a couple that complimented each other to an infinite degree, then they were it. They were both great influences on one another. Hinata calmed him down and made him think rationally while he gave her courage and the strength to keep on fighting. They were destined to be together.

"What were you two talking about?" Sakura had snuck up behind him after Naruto had left, causing Sasuke to nearly jump—his senses must've been getting dulled.

He sighed, trying to hide the fact he didn't sense her. "Nothing in particular." She didn't really need to know about their real conversation.

His answer didn't seem to convince her, but she shrugged and let it go. "Come on. We should head back before the twins get a cold." She placed Ria in his stroller and took Suzu to put her in hers.

Sasuke looked down the hill toward the park. Everyone seemed to be leaving as it got closer to lunch and he realized something. All in all, spending the morning at the park wasn't that bad of an idea.

* * *

><p>Naruto and Hinata decided to take their lunch back to Naruto's place on account of the cold weather. She didn't seem to notice his newfound nervousness and he was thankful for that. Once they got back, he cranked the heat up and brought out a thick blanket. Hinata was in the kitchen while Naruto got to work in the living room.<p>

He moved his sofa so it was up against the window and pushed the coffee table right next to it. Then he placed the blanket down on the floor. It seemed like a good spot for an indoor picnic, but something else seemed to be missing. He crossed his arms as he tried to think. Then it hit him. He went into his room and grabbed a few pillows off of his bed as well as a few candles from his closet.

Naruto placed the pillows on the blanket comfortably and then lit the candles. They were all scents that Hinata liked because she was the one who had bought them. Some were lavender while most were jasmine, but the one he liked the most was lilac because it reminded him of her. Speaking of the voluptuous devil, Hinata came out with two bowls of ramen balanced in one arm while she had a bottle of champagne in the other. She smiled at the scenery that Naruto created while he got up and helped her with everything. After she fetched two glasses—he didn't have wine glasses but regular ones worked just as well—they sat together for their picnic lunch.

She poured the champagne and he handed her a bowl of ramen. "So did you get this while you were in that shop?" He asked after taking a glass.

Hinata smiled. "Yeah. I thought you'd like it."

"Well, it's a good thing that we moved inside then, huh?" He matched her smile and took a sip. Naruto never had champagne before but knew that high class people drank it on special occasions. After his first sip, though, he came to the conclusion that he didn't like the taste too much, but not wanting to hurt Hinata's feelings, he drank it anyway.

She took a bite of her ramen, but Naruto continued to stare at her. For the first time in his life, he didn't want to eat ramen. Hinata saw that he wasn't eating and after she swallowed her bite, she asked, "What's wrong?"

He shook his head. "Nothing's wrong. I just, um," he scratched the back of his head nervously.

"Clearly, there's something wrong. You never not eat ramen." She set her bowl down and got closer to him, trying to see if there was a physical ailment she could solve. "Is there something you're not telling me?"

Again, he shook his head. "Well, actually..."

"You know, you can tell me anything you want. I don't want you to bottle things up, okay?" She looked genuinely concerned.

_'Concerned for me,'_ he thought. Sighing, Naruto was about to say those three significant words when somebody knocked on the front door. He was both mad and relieved at the same time as he got up to get answer the door. To his surprise, it was Tenten. She was dressed in her usual attire except she was wearing her green Chunin vest. Tenten rarely wore that and when she did it was usually for top ranked Konoha missions. Her arms were crossed over her chest and her jaw was set. For whatever reason she was here, she wasn't too happy about it.

"Tenten?" Naruto said and got her attention.

"Hokage-sama wants to see you and Hinata immediately. Is she here?" Tenten tried to peer over his shoulder to find the young Hyuuga but stopped.

"Yeah," he nodded, "she's here. We'll be there soon."

Without another word, Tenten left towards the Hokage's office. Naruto shrugged and closed the door. He was going to tell Hinata what happened, but it seemed that she overheard the weapons' specialist because she was already cleaning up their picnic. She looked a bit sad at the sudden message, but when she looked up at him, she smiled. It was a warm smile that only Hinata was able make.

He smiled at her. "Do you need anything to change into?"

She nodded.

"Good thing I did the wash." He chuckled. "There some of your clothes in my room. You can change in there."

"Um, Naruto?"

"Hm?"

"What were you going to tell me before Tenten knocked on the door?" Instead of going closer to his bedroom door, she approached him. Now, she was an arms length away.

He knew what he wanted to say, but the words got caught in his throat again. She continued to look into his eyes and when he knew he could no longer reach those words, he grabbed her and pulled her close. Their mouths seemed perfectly molded to fit each others as she immediately responded to his kiss and closed her eyes. This seemed easier to do than say three words and so he put all of his emotions into the kiss. He let the love he felt for her flow through him and into her as she moaned into his mouth. Her hands dug into hair as he tried to pull her closer to his body. In their embrace, Naruto had barely noticed that they were moving until his back was against the closed door. She seemed so fragile in his arms and he was afraid that she was going to break, but Hinata must've sensed his hesitation because just then she bit his bottom lip—reminding him that she was just as tough. He grinned against her lips and ravaged her. Now he was the one doing all of the pushing.

He moved their tangled bodies towards the couch where he cornered her. Her skin was smooth under his calloused hands and he couldn't help but to feel every inch of her. Naruto slid his hands under her dress and across the flat surface of her stomach. She giggled against his lips from the sensitive touch but quickly drowned in their never-ending lip-lock. He removed his hands from under dress and moved them south so they scraped across her elegant and creamy legs. She was sensitive to this touch as well and stopped him by wrapping her legs around his waist, pulling him even closer to her body. Giving up, he simply settled for her waist and propped her up so she was sitting in his lap. They broke apart and as their breathing deepened, their chests hit one another. Hinata touched her forehead to his with her eyes closed while he stared at her. There was a trickle of sweat coming from her brow and he felt a bit pleased that he was able to make her as nervous as she made him.

"I love you," he panted. Naruto was a bit surprised at how easy the words came out and kissed her again. He laughed. "I love you, Hinata."

Her eyes had opened the first time he said it and she barely registered his second kiss. When he said it the second time, she smiled at him. "I love you too, Naruto." A tear started to form but he caught it with his finger, wiping it away.

* * *

><p>Neither Sasuke or Sakura were surprised that Neji told them to go see the Hokage. The only thing that concerned them, though, were the twins. Sakura had taken them to Shikamaru's so that he could watch them and was relieved that he took up the request. She was also happy that Kurenai was there so that they at least had someone with experience. Sakura told him that it was probably a small mission and they'd be back sometime tomorrow at the latest.<p>

The thing that surprised them was the fact that it actually was a mission, but not a D-rank or a C-rank. It was a B-rank. Sakura was used to B-ranks and she was sure that Sasuke would handle them well too, but it was his first official mission since leaving Konoha nearly ten years ago. She wasn't sure if that was the right rank in missions for him to do after rejoining their forces. Another thing that surprised her was that there was going to be another squad accompanying them.

Team Gai was already at the office, except that Gai sensei was missing—though that wasn't that unusual. Neji, Tenten, and Lee were more than capable of handling a B-rank mission without their infamous sensei. Naruto and Hinata were already there as well, which meant that the only person missing was Squad Seven's infamous sensei. But it didn't seem that Tsunade was going to wait for him.

"Alright, thank you for gathering. Seeing as both squads are here, I can start with the debriefing." Tsunade said. "For Team Gai, I'm putting Neji as the squad leader and for the newly reunited Team Seven, I'm appointing Sakura the squad leader."

"What?" Naruto cried out. Ever since he was bumped to Jounin—he was granted the title after the Fourth Shinobi War—he was dying to lead a team of his own. Too bad for him that Sakura was the responsible one on the team.

"Naruto, you're not ready to lead your own team so until then, I'm putting Sakura in charge of Team Seven. And seeing as Kakashi isn't accompanying you, I've asked for Hinata to help you track and sense." The vein in Tsunade's forehead was already beginning to show. "Anyway, here's your mission. You are to go to Kirigakure and assist the Mizukage on a special mission. There had been a prison riot and some of the top criminals sent there have escaped. All in all, there are twenty missing ninja. Fifteen of them were captured after the war while the last five are all new to the Bingo Book. Because there isn't a lot of information on the last five, I advise you to be careful."


	13. Blood, Sweat, and Tears

Chapter 13:

Blood, Sweat, and Tears

Sakura couldn't help but to stare. After being away for so long and then being contained for six months, Sasuke was finally on a mission. For the past couple of days, he'd been wearing loose, baggy clothes that seemed faded from use but now he was completely different. He wore a sleeveless black cloak with a high, popped collar. It was zipped halfway down his torso only to reveal the long sleeved mesh shirt but it was practically see-through, showing his chiseled frame. He wore dark blue pants that hugged his legs before being stuffed into his black shoes that reached up to his calves. He had on dark blue gloves with the fingers cut off and a metal guard on the back as well as black elbow guards. His katana was strapped to his hip and his headband was tied around his forehead—his bangs covered Konoha's symbol. Though the sight of him made her both hot and cold, she also felt a sense of pride and joy.

They had reached Kirigakure later than they wanted to, but the Mizukage didn't seem to mind. The Kiri ninja showed them where they'd be staying and asked if one of the teams to accompany them on patrol. Neji had offered Team Gai before Sakura could say anything which left Team Seven the rest of the night to themselves. Naruto and Hinata went out to eat while Sasuke and Sakura decided to stay back.

Sasuke had gone out on the balcony while Sakura stayed back in the room. It felt weird to be in silence since the twins were anything but quiet. After looking at him, she looked at herself in the mirror. Lately, she hadn't taken notice of her appearance. Sakura knew her hair was long but it had started to reach the small of her back in little rivulets. She also saw her womanly figure—wide hips, flat stomach, and an actual chest—while she took notice of her long and elegant legs. Sakura wore a white shirt cropped right above her navel with a red hem running on the sleeves and the bottom of the shirt. The sleeves were cut to her elbows and the shirt seemed to barely stay on her shoulders. Luckily, she wore a sleeveless mesh shirt underneath that covered her stomach. Sakura had on a light pink apron over black compression shorts. Her boots were as high as Sasuke's as they stopped right below her knees.

Taking her eyes off of her reflection, Sakura looked over towards the balcony. Sasuke hadn't paid her any attention and was intently looking out to the city. He seemed lost in his thoughts as the soft glow from below lit up a portion of his face. She gave a soft sigh and sat down on the bed, relishing in the silent moment. It didn't take long for strong arms to wrap themselves around her slight frame.

A soft moan escaped from her as he trailed kisses up and down her neck. She turned around in his arms to face him and he stopped her, holding her in place. Putting his lips to her ear, he spoke, "Don't move."

A chill ran through her body after he spoke and suddenly everything felt...off. Suddenly, his touch was no longer warm or soft and his arms no longer felt safe. Sakura couldn't stop thinking that this wasn't Sasuke. Nothing felt right all of a sudden. "Sa—"

He grabbed her cheeks and prevented her from speaking. Her suspicions were confirmed now, but there was one thing that bothered her more than the intruder—who still had her in a tight hold. What happened to Sasuke? He moved his hand toward her chest and that's where she lost it. Sakura could still move her hands, and so she gathered as much chakra as possible, imagining a scalpel. With this imaginary scalpel, she moved her hand over his leg and slammed her fist into his thigh as hard as she could. He cried out in pain and released her, allowing her enough time to get off the bed, turn around, and gather more chakra into her fists. She was about to hit him with full force but stopped when she saw his face.

It was Sasuke, but at the same time it wasn't. He resembled Sasuke like a clone only he was clouded in a black aura and his eyes were a strange, mysterious blue. She snapped out of her hesitation and went to punch him, but when she made contact with his jaw, she didn't feel the contact. Her blow went right through his face like mist and then the Sasuke imposter was gone.

Sakura knew that it wasn't a genjutsu but other than that option, she had no idea what the illusion was besides the fact that it wasn't real. She ran to the balcony and leaned over the edge. There was a bit of forest underneath that separated their inn from the rest of the village, so she couldn't tell if he had fallen or not. But some of the branches below were bent which indicated that something had fallen. She was quick to respond to her discovery and jumped down into the forest, landing like a cat on the first branch she came into contact with.

She looked all around in the dark for him, but there was no sign of Sasuke. When she was about to give up hope and head towards the city, she saw something crumpled on the forest floor. Sakura ran toward it and to her shock and relief, she immediately recognized Sasuke's motionless body. She rolled him over to get a better look at his face. He looked like he was sound asleep without a mark on his face to indicate that he had been hit or harmed in anyway. Surely, an Uchiha wouldn't be susceptible to a genjutsu.

"Sasuke, Sasuke! Wake up, please, wake up," she was trying to keep her panic to a minimum but it was hard. She lightly tapped his face and soon enough his eyes started to flutter, but they would fall shut after the slightest sign of relief washed over her. "Alright, come on. Wake up, wake up," she gently helped him up into a sitting position while slinging his arm over her shoulders.

"Sa...kura?" He mumbled. His voice sounded drained as if he hadn't slept in a few weeks. Clearly, something had happened to him. "What...Where...?" Sasuke didn't finish either of those sentences before he fell back into unconsciousness.

"Alright, let's go back to the inn." Pulling him to his feet, Sakura managed to haul him back up to the inn and into their room before laying him on their bed. She cleaned his face of dirt and still saw nothing of harm.

As the lights faded outside, the stars started to come out. Sakura could hear Naruto's loud entrance as he and Hinata tried to quietly get back to their room. It was really late now and she was starting to get concerned with Sasuke's health. He hadn't regained consciousness since they were in the forest over two hours ago, and it was starting to worry her. Though she was a medical ninja, she couldn't really do anything for him on a mental level in a Kirigakure inn right outside the village.

Just when she was about to take him to the hospital, Sasuke finally started to come to. His eyes opened first and she could tell he was taking in the sight of the room. She carefully approached him, not wanting him to go on alert. Resting her hand on his, she smiled at him.

"What...happened?" He asked, trying to sit up, but she gently pushed him back down.

"I don't know, but I would like to know why you were in the forest."

He thought long and hard about the several hours prior to waking up in the room. When a thought popped in his head, he quickly sat up and clutched his head. "That son of a bitch."

"What?"

"I can't remember his face, but there was someone else on the balcony."

"There was?" Sakura hadn't seen anyone on the balcony, but she trusted Sasuke's judgment considering how well he could discern genjutsu. "Do you remember anything else?"

"I remember a choking feeling and the sight of something dark being pulled from my mouth. I could sense chakra leaving my body, but that's it." He gritted his teeth as the memory plagued his thoughts. She knew what he wanted to do.

She pushed him back down on the bed and curled up next to him, hoping that this comforted him a bit. "It could be that this person is one of the criminals. I promise you we'll find him and I'll let you do whatever you want with that bastard." Sakura couldn't push the thought of him touching her out of her mind. It caused a shiver to ripple through her spine, causing Sasuke to take notice.

"What happened?" He asked, his tone demanding.

She shrugged. "What do you mean?"

"Did he touch you?" The anger started to return to his voice.

Sakura shook her head, hoping that it would ease Sasuke a bit. This was his first mission in nearly ten years and before he was even on official duty, chakra was extracted from him and he was rendered unconscious. All in all, this was off to a bad start.

* * *

><p>He knew it was a dream. Itachi stood before him wearing plain and simple clothes, a gray t-shirt with a raised collar and dark gray pants that stopped at his ankles—revealing his bare feet. He looked young in that instant like he had been sucked back in time. His face still held that elderly brother wisdom. Seeing him sent mixed emotions to Sasuke. He felt happy and confused but sad and pained all at the same time.<p>

Itachi must've noticed this because he took a step forward and placed his hand comforting on his shoulder. The scenery had shifted from a stifling blackness to a dusty sunset back at the Uchiha compound. Now, when Sasuke looked at his brother, he saw him age ten years as he took on a more tired and exhausted look. The feeling felt so familiar and it wasn't until now did Sasuke register where he felt this before. The same thing happened while he was in his comatose state and he sat, once again, with his timeless brother.

"It's been too long, Sasuke." Itachi said, an elderly wisdom coming through his tone.

"It's only been six months..." Sasuke muttered.

His brother smiled, suddenly growing younger again, and sat down on the steps of the Uchiha compound. He stared off into the sunset as he waited for his younger brother. Sasuke sighed and took a seat next to Itachi. He couldn't take the silence any longer. "What are you doing here, Itachi?"

He didn't respond right away and instead seemed intently focused on the never setting sun. When he did speak, Itachi turned to face his brother. Once again, the concern in his eyes seemed to age him beyond his years, affecting his outer appearance again.

"It seems that you're troubled again. And here I thought that our last sit down cleared your mind." He sighed. "What is bothering you?"

Sasuke shook his head. Since the time that he woke from his coma, he hadn't slept a full night. Insomnia wasn't uncommon with coma patient, apparently, but he didn't think insomnia was his problem. He was constantly getting plagued with images and thoughts from his past. Some nights they were nice like memories of him and Itachi coming home from training in the woods, but other nights he couldn't get the thought of Itachi's bloodied face from his mind. Even now, those memories flashed through his mind looking at his brother.

Itachi could see the turmoil in Sasuke's eyes and seemed to focus away from that. "I did see, though, that you're making an effort. You actually sat down with Naruto?" He stifled a smile at that one.

Sasuke shuddered. Sure, he would have to say that the blonde ninja was his best friend, but letting other people know that was a bit embarrassing. "Yeah, but he actually sat down next to me. I had no choice in the matter."

"Well, then, what about Sakura? Was she by choice?"

"Of course." There was no hesitation in his voice. It surprised him at first, but he realized that there wasn't anything to be surprised about. Sakura never gave up on him. Sure, she tried to kill him so many years ago but he would've done the same thing if he was in his right mind. She was the only one who stood by his side while he was in his coma. She was also the first thing he saw when he woke up. "Yeah...but at the same time, I don't think it was that much of a choice. No hesitation, you know?" He looked to his brother then.

Itachi's eyes seemed to smile at his reaction. "Yeah, I think I know the feeling."

He wasn't too sure what his brother meant, but this was a dream. Sasuke was most likely telling himself all this just through his brother's image.

"Just don't forget that feeling. When you're at your lowest, don't fall again. Remember that it's useless to run away because you have people who'll chase you to the ends of the world."

Sasuke sighed. He knew that his brother's words were true and he had no thoughts of leaving now because there was nowhere else that he could go. Just then, his arm felt really warm and as though someone had shifted beside him, though there was no one beside his brother sitting next to him. The dream was fading and Sakura was stirring which meant that it was about time to wake up.

"I'm guessing that our time was cut short." Itachi looked out toward the sunset. "I hope the next time that we meet you'll be able to tell me all about your new family." He smiled before fading into the orange background.

With his brother gone, Sasuke smirked. He still wasn't sure if that was actually Itachi or the fragment of his imagination but he was starting to lean towards the first option. "I'll have plenty to tell you, Itachi."

* * *

><p>Sakura was careful not to disturb Sasuke as she crawled from underneath his arm. He was so peaceful when he was asleep. Sasuke's hair was tousled about, a few strands getting caught on his lip, and he seemed to revert to a younger state as his breathing was slow and steady. She smiled at the sight and quietly walked over to her bag, grabbing her toiletries and then heading to the bathroom.<p>

When she got into the shower, Sakura scrubbed her arms and neck as hard as she could, hoping to get the chilling feeling of that stranger off her skin. She could still feel his warmth pressed against her as he trailed kisses down her neck. Shuddering, she reached for the soap and added another layer so that she could scrub harder. The hot water was soothing as it trailed down her back and emptied into the drain. Sakura leaned her head against the wall and held her breath. It was no use. The memory wasn't coming clean.

The door opened and a familiar voice spoke, "Sakura? Are you there?"

She let her air escape as relief set in. It was Sasuke. "Yeah, I'm here." She answered back. Sakura didn't know why she felt relieved. Maybe it was because she was expecting that imposter to come back and torture her psyche some more.

"Did you eat yet?" He asked. It seemed innocent enough, but it was a bit strange that Sasuke asked her that.

"No." She carefully answered back, bracing herself in case it really wasn't him.

"I guess I'll order some room service then."

She heard the door click shut and felt a pang in her heart. Why would she ever doubt him? There were signs that she hadn't read last night and that was her fault, not his. She took a deep breath and called him back to the room, "Sasuke?"

A few seconds went by and there was no response.

"Sasuke?" She called again.

Again, silence.

Sakura jumped out of the shower and grabbed the nearest towel. Wrapping it around her, she threw the door open and ran into their room. There was no one there. Panic started to set in once again and without another thought, she left the room and ended up in the hall.

"Sasuke?" She called, the panic had set in her tone as she ran down the hall. When she rounded the first corner, she saw his familiar bluish black hair down the way. "Sasuke!"

He turned around then and she ran to him, colliding into his chest. Sasuke was confused as to why she was in a bath towel in the hall, but he quickly wrapped his arms around her small frame. She shivered in the chill air and he helped her back to the room. Once they were back in the room, he sat her on the bed but she wouldn't let go of him so he sat with her.

"Sakura, what's wrong?" He asked her.

She was glad that she didn't cry, but if she was to open her mouth, she was afraid that that would happen. Instead, she shook her head and buried her face in his chest.

Sasuke was clearly confused but he remained patient, patting her head as he waited for her answer.

When she was confident that she wasn't going to cry, Sakura looked up at him. "I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry for?" Again, he waited patiently for her, looking in her eyes for any sign of what she was going to say next.

"I...I saw his face." She didn't know how to tell him. Sasuke looked at her questioningly. "The person who attacked you...I saw his face."

"I don't understand."

"He looked exactly like you. I mean," she took a steady breath in before telling him, "he touched me."

"What?" Sasuke's eyes flared to life, taking on their crimson sharingan. He got up from the bed and started to pace around the room. "Tell me exactly what happened."

She clenched her hands together and told him everything; how he felt like Sasuke and she let him kiss her and then how she knew there wasn't something right and she hurt him—Sasuke smirked at that—and finally how she left to find him. He took several breaths before retracting his sharingan and then sitting back down on the bed. Grabbing her hands, he kissed them.

"You're okay?" His eyes seemed to seek for forgiveness even though there was nothing that he needed to be forgiven for. She nodded. "Alright, finish getting ready and we'll head over to the Mizukage's. I'll go get the dobe and Hinata along with some breakfast."

He got up from the bed and she couldn't help but to ask, "Sasuke?"

He looked at her.

"You're...not angry?"

Sasuke shook his head. His eyes said otherwise. "I'm not angry at you, but if I see him..." He trailed off, purposely leaving Sakura out of his plans.

She nodded and went back into the bathroom to finish getting ready.

* * *

><p>The Mizukage was nothing like Tsunade. She was cheerful and very smiley. Her style, though, was kinda like Tsunade's because her bust was nearly spilling out and she was all curves. The Mizukage sat on top of her desk with her legs crossed and hands folded. She hadn't said a single word since the Konoha ninja arrived and Sakura could tell that Naruto was getting anxious.<p>

"Um, Mizukage-sama, but may I ask you something?" Sakura finally spoke after the long silence.

She continued to smile and nodded.

"Well, uh, what are we waiting for? I mean, are we allowed to proceed with our mission?"

The Mizukage put up her finger. "Just a little bit longer. We are waiting for the night shift to return."

"Oh, okay," Sakura took a seat between Hinata and Sasuke. He had his eyes closed and seemed as if lost in thought while Hinata stared at Naruto who was by the window. She had her hands tightly clenched as if nervous about something. "Hinata, don't worry about him. You should know that he gets like this when he's forced to wait." She told her.

Hinata looked over and smile sheepishly. "I know. I'm just worried about Neji-niisan and the others. What's taking them so long?"

Sakura hadn't thought about that. She figured with Neji, Tenten, and Lee that there wouldn't be many problems but they were late in arriving back to report their shift. If only their team took the night shift, then maybe she could've prevented so many things from happening last night.

Just then, the doors burst open and a small child came running through. He couldn't be any older than four years old. The little boy had short, tufty auburn hair like the Mizukage's and large, black eyes. He ran straight for the Mizukage and grabbed at the hem of her dress, tugging on it. She leaned over and picked him up and he clung to her like a child would to his mother.

"I'm so sorry, Mizukage-sama!" A Kiri shinobi came running after the child and bowed before their leader. He waited for her to speak.

Instead of speaking to the shinobi, the Mizukage directed her attention to the child. "What's wrong, Kaito-kun? Did you want to see okaa-san?"

The boy nodded.

She turned her attention to the shinobi. "That's fine. I'll watch him until Cho-kun comes back from his mission."

The shinobi bowed and left the office, giving the boy some relief. He crawled out of his mother's arms and walked over to Naruto. The said blonde ninja took notice and looked down at the brat. The boy continued to stare at him with wide and awe filled eyes. "Are you...Uzumaki Naruto?" The boy asked.

Naruto simply blinked before nodding.

"Thank you." He said and walked back over to his mother, clinging to her dress again. She picked him back up and held him on her lap.

The doors burst open again but this time it was because of a group of ninja. Not just any ninja, though, it was the night shift including Team Gai and Kiri's shinobi. They all looked beat up, but Lee was beaming from ear to ear. Tenten looked just as pissed as she was the night before and Neji still remained unfazed by her expression. Sakura could tell that she was mad at him for something but that something still remained a mystery not only to her but to Neji as well.

"Ah, there you are." The Mizukage smiled even wider. She got up off her desk with Kaito in her arms and bypassed the Konoha-nin as well as most of her Kiri-nin. She wrapped her arms around one of the Kiri-nin with blue hair and large black eyes. He carried a heavy looking sword on his back, making Sakura guess he was apart of the Seven Swordsmen. "Cho-kun! I'm so happy you made it back in one piece!" She cooed as the child reached up to him.

The swordsman took the child in his arms and kissed the Mizukage on the cheek. "Of course I made it back. I promised to always protect your beautiful smile."

She turned around to face the other shinobi. "Welcome back. You have the rest of the day off and report here at dusk ready for your next shift." The Kiri-nin bowed while Team Gai simply nodded.

"Good luck, guys." Tenten told them before leaving. She made sure to leave both teammates in her dust.

With that, Team Seven took it as their cue and left the building with Naruto at the lead. Sakura told them to split up into pairs—Sakura and Sasuke together as well as Hinata with Naruto—and told them to take the north while they would take the south. She would let the Kiri-nin take the east and west. Hopefully with this setup, they would be successful in at least finding five to ten missing men today.

Taking the south was a good choice because they had caught three C ranked criminals with ease. After they dropped them back off at the prison, both Sakura and Sasuke continued their search for the imposter from the night before. She was trying not focus on him too much because there were dangerous A to S ranked criminals still out there, but she could tell that Sasuke was completely focused on finding him. Clearly the imposter had struck a nerve.

They had branched as far as the border of the Land of Water, watching the waves roll up the cliffs, and then retraced their steps back towards the village. Something had darted through the trees and Sasuke went chasing after it. Sakura followed him because she knew he wouldn't have chased after anything if it wasn't human. Her heart started to beat rapidly as her mind started to wander. He was gaining speed and it was hard keeping up with him. The training he'd been doing the past few days was starting to pay off.

Chasing this thing all around was starting to tire Sakura. She was able to catch up to Sasuke and saw the determination on his face. Clearly, he believed that this was the imposter. Though he may think that, they couldn't confirm it just yet because it was still too far ahead of them and if they were going to fight him then they'd need to conserve energy and chakra.

"Sasuke! We have to corner him!" She yelled, hoping that he would hear her. The ocean wasn't too far away and the roar of the waves was starting to disrupt communication.

He nodded, showing that he heard her and they split up. With the ocean being so close meant that they were near the cliffs. Those cliffs were high which meant that jumping off them would mean suicide even if you could land on the water. It was a good corner to drive someone to.

The pincer attack worked because Sakura could see a shadowy figure heading her way with Sasuke on his tail. He must've seen her because he made a quick beeline to his left, heading for the cliffs. She met up with Sasuke and they both pushed through the forest to the coast. There, standing at the edge, was a man wrapped up in a visible black aura. He resembled Sasuke physically and when he turned around to face them he matched their eyes with icy blue ones of his own.

He smirked and held his arms out as if to surrender. This was the imposter they were waiting for to catch, and possibly for Sasuke, to hurt. Sakura clenched her fists together. She wasn't sure how she was going to react to seeing him again, but now there was no doubt that she felt frustrated and angry at him. All she wanted to do was to sock a good one in his face.

"Hey there, belle." He winked at Sakura, causing not only Sakura's anger to raise but Sasuke's as well. "Did you come back for more?"

Gathering as much chakra in her fist, she was about ready to strike, but surprisingly, Sasuke held her back. He shot her a look as if to say, 'Don't interfere.' It was hard to restrain herself, but she managed and waited for what was about to happen.

"What's the matter, belle? You don't seem well," his smile never faded and his eyes grew icier with each word that he spoke.

She gritted her teeth. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why do you look like Sasuke?" The question had been eating at her since the night before.

"Oh, right, I forgot." He waved his hand in front of his face and the black aura seemed to vanish. His entire appearance changed except for the gleam in his blue eyes. This man had long black hair pulled back into a ponytail that brushed his shoulders. He wore tight clothes, revealing his slim but muscular build. For a moment, Sakura thought this was Ziom but something told her that this wasn't that person because he had died. Blown up...supposedly...while this man had escaped prison a few days ago. "The Uchiha's aura was just too delicious I forgot that I was enveloped in his chakra."

"That wasn't any chakra I've ever seen." Sasuke said, carefully taking a step closer to the target.

"Of course it wasn't like any chakra you've ever seen. This is what my clan calls Spirit Chakra. It's the chakra that attaches itself on the person's soul and changes color depending on what happens with the user." His grin took on a more sinister look. "In this case, Black Chakra is the most evil."

With that, Sasuke had enough because he lunged for the man just then. With a kunai in hand and his eyes a blazed with his sharingan, he was caught amidst a battle. The shinobi was fast with reflexes that could match Sasuke's sharingan all the while grinning every time their blades clashed. Sasuke seemed to be the aggressor as he pushed the shinobi all around, but for some reason, Sakura got the feeling that he was simply toying with the Uchiha.

Just then, the blacked haired shinobi vanished in a puff of smoke. Sakura was quick to grab a kunai, but she wasn't fast enough. There was a hand around her neck and the other was around her waist. She couldn't see him but knew that the imposter was the one holding her hostage. Biting back her anger, Sakura waited for his demands, but he simply but his chin on her shoulder.

"Are you curious about what color your soul is?" She could hear the sneer in his tone.

She spat even though it didn't reach him.

"Be that way," he paused and moved her hand from her throat to her mouth. Sasuke couldn't move, afraid that if he did so then something bad would happen to Sakura, and the expression on his face was a mix of rage, pain, and uselessness. "Oniton: Kitsunetsuki," he whispered into her ear.

A great pull came from deep within her and suddenly she felt as if she was choking. Sakura grabbed for her throat, but the shinobi continued to pull whatever was coming out of her, preventing her arms from moving. She could see a bright light coming from her mouth as it started to envelop the imposter and take on her form. Sakura would've seen more but her eyes suddenly felt heavy. As the last drop of light left her body, she started to fall towards the ground.

Her breathing was slowing and she could feel her heart start to beat sluggishly. As her eyes began to close, she saw the shinobi smiling with his back turn to Sasuke. She moved her remaining attention to the Uchiha whose face turned to blinding rage and he lunged for the imposter.


	14. What did I do to Deserve This?

Chapter 14

What did I do to Deserve This?

Sasuke was frozen with anger, frustration, pain, concern, and strangest of all wonderment. There, standing beside the mysterious shinobi, was a translucent image of Sakura. She was bright and glowing. There seemed to be a certain sense of life to her as her colorless eyes reflected longing and sadness. If this was a reflection of her soul, it was completely accurate. This showed her true feelings. Just pure, raw emotion.

She just stood there, beside him, as her intense light and frantic swirling started to fade. He had magically beckoned her over to him, and the shinobi took hold of her wrist. Reeling her in, the shinobi made contact with her lips and though it looked as if he was kissing her—which made Sasuke boil inside—he was instead eating her chakra. Sasuke didn't know what to do. His instincts were screaming at him to move and stop him but there was a part of him that wanted to know what was going to happen.

Once the shinobi was finished and Sakura's chakra was completely gone, he made his move. They clashed with the same force, a large pang rang through the trees. Sasuke pulled away first, "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" He heaved and blew ferociously, a giant fireball hurtling towards the shinobi.

But of course he was fast enough to evade the attack. Lucky for Sasuke, his plan was a success. Once he dodged the attack, Sasuke was able to breach his defense. His arm was a blaze with lightning chakra as the familiar sensation of the Chidori sank in and he went to strike. The shinobi was able to regain himself and quickly bent backwards, dodging this attack as well. Since the blow didn't connect, Sasuke backed off and went to grab for his katana. He let his instincts take over as he poured chakra into the blade and extended its reach, then added more lightning chakra. He lunged back towards the shinobi with his weapon. The man leaped into the air, causing Sasuke to plant the katana into the ground and used it as a lever as he leaped into the air.

He finally cornered him. "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" This time the shinobi wouldn't be able to leap out of the way.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" The other shinobi shouted before firing his own giant fireball. It was just as large as Sasuke's and was hurtling twice as fast towards him. The two balls of fire collided and created an explosion that caused both men to fall devastatingly to the ground.

Sasuke landed on his back and felt the entirety of the impact, gasping as the air was knocked out of him. He tried to focus on the other shinobi and saw that he was having just as hard a time as he was getting back up on his feet. Rolling over onto his side, he tried to get up, but he felt a sharp pain in his arm. 'It's probably broken,' he thought. Grunting in pain, he pushed it aside and slowly got on his feet.

"You thought you had me, right Uchiha?" The other shinobi said as he wiped blood from his lip, neglecting the thin trail shaping the side of his face. "I will say, that was pretty clever. I guess it was a good move for a returning ninja."

"I don't need your praise." He gritted. The throbbing in his arm was starting to get to him.

"No, of course you don't." His tone was clearly sarcastic. "A successful criminal like you wouldn't want to hear the smaller people. I mean, you lost to your rival, landed yourself in a coma, and came crawling back to Konoha—a village you despised so much. What criminal wouldn't want to strive for that?" He shrugged mockingly.

"How did—"

"I ate your chakra. I know everything that went through your mind while it attached to your soul and let me say, you have one dark and humiliating past."

Despite the pain his body was telling him, Sasuke lunged once again towards the shinobi. Letting his anger and instincts take control, he was able to sock a few punches to the man's face and even drove him back to the cliff's edge. Seeing the shinobi's surprise in his eyes gave the Uchiha a sense of pride, though he wasn't consciously aware why. All he could think about was how this man mocked his past, present, and future as well as the dignity he still retained. Though not only that, he had hurt Sakura worst of all. Thinking that he laid his hands on her made his blood boil more than him mocking his life.

Being in a state of rage does have its advantages as well as its negatives. The advantages would be the fact that Sasuke had forgotten all about his broken arm and the pain in his right leg. The bad thing about rage was the fact that all other senses were diminished.

Sasuke was socked to the right which sent him flying into a nearby tree. That had knocked him from his blind rage and made him realize what was going on. Looking over towards the mysterious shinobi, he could see that he had allies. All this time this man had allies, yet he didn't call them forth. Whether he was purposely hiding them or they had just stumbled upon the fight. Either way, this only caused for a more troublesome fight.

"Ankoku-sama, are you alright?" One of the men asked.

Ankoku brushed himself off and looked over towards Sasuke, giving him a scowl. "How dare he lay a hand on me."

"Do you want us to take care of him, Ankoku-sama?" Another one asked.

"Take care of the Uchiha. I have some more important matters to attend to." With that Ankoku left the group of nameless nobodies to "take care" of him. For the damage he'd taken, he was surprisingly fast.

Sasuke got back on his feet and spat blood from his mouth. It was useless to chase after him, especially since Sakura was still laying unconscious just a few yards away and he'd be damned if he was to leave her alone with these creeps. He cracked his knuckles while they sneered and chuckled to themselves. He remembered seeing their pictures in the bingo book and knew they had to be about D to C rank which was nothing.

Even in his battered state, Sasuke was able to take all three of them out. He was able to trap the first one in a genjutsu while the other two thought it would be wise to come at him together. Instead, they ended up butting heads and Sasuke was able to take them both out with a double Chidori. Now, all three were unconscious which meant that his job was done. In his pouch was a flare, and Sasuke shot it into the air so that he could signal for assistance, hopefully it was a medical ninja.

He limped back over to Sakura and plopped down next to her. He took her into his arms, grimacing at the pain in his possibly broken arm, and brushed her hair from her eyes. Sasuke gently shook her, hoping that it would wake her, but it did nothing. He then brushed aside some dirt on her cheeks and simply stared at her. She looked as if she was sleeping, bringing back a few peaceful memories.

In the time that he had spent with her—after the war—she was always there by his side. She was by his bed every day during his coma. After he awoke, she fought for him to come back to the village and put her own honor on the line all for him. And how does he repay her? He breaks his probation and gets sent back to jail where he causes her more grief and worry all for his own safety. He was given a second chance, now, and on his first mission, he loses a prisoner and allowed Sakura to get hurt. This was a great repayment for everything that she had done for him...

"Sasuke...?" Her eyes fluttered open. Thankfully, she looked unharmed.

Internally, he sighed of relief and smiled, but externally, he kept his face cool and unmoving—a habit that was hard to break. "Sakura..."

"What...happened?" She asked. She tried to sit up but he gently pushed her down in case there was a head injury.

"He got away." It was all Sasuke could say. He didn't want to tell her that the shinobi was cunning and nothing they were expecting nor did he want to tell her that he was ganged up on. Of course, though, there was another reason why he kept his sentences short. The pounding in his head was starting to get unbearable and his vision was starting to blacken.

She sat up so fast that it made his head rush. On her knees, she was staring at him face to face as she tried to assess the damage he'd taken. Her hands brushed his bruised and cut cheeks before they traced their way down his neck and to his chest where his shirt had split from the impact. Sakura's hands lit up to a green hue and he soon felt the soothing effects of her medical ninjutsu. "I'm so sorry."

"What are you talking about?" He asked, feeling a numbing sensation start to take over.

She sighed as if she didn't want to tell him. "I shouldn't have let him sneak up on me like that. I let my guard down and I became useless."

"It's okay, Sakura." He said, fighting back the exhaustion.

"No, it's not okay." She seemed to be getting worked up. "I'm not the same pathetic kunoichi that always needed saving. I'm strong, quick, and knowledgeable, but every time we're on the same battlefield, there is always something that goes wrong and I end up making a fool of myself. I feel like you don't know just how reliable I truly am."

"Sakura—"

"Let me finish," she interrupted him. "Today, I was going to prove to you that I'm useful. Without a doubt, I can handle my own on the battlefield. I am no longer weak or pathetic. I just wanted—"

Sasuke had pulled her toward him, crushing his lips against hers and immediately shutting her up. She was definitely surprised by the kiss but soon crumpled into him. He held her by the forearms, restraining her arms, and melted his lips with hers. Once he was sure she had silenced, he pulled away to see that she had a bewildered and dreamy expression in her eyes. He smirked internally. "Don't you ever shut up?"

* * *

><p>"Tenten! Wait up!"<p>

The said ninja stopped and turned around, crossing her arms over her chest. She knew he had no clue as to why she was avoiding him, but she was sure he was going to find out eventually. Tenten hoped that he wouldn't find out on this mission though.

"Tenten," he had finally caught up to her and was breathing pretty hard. It was apparent that he hadn't seen a doctor yet because there were still bruises and cuts on his face. "I've been looking for you all day."

"And what do you want?" She didn't mean for it to come out so irritably but it sort of blurted out all of a sudden.

"I don't understand." His eyes scrunched together in confusion as he tried to analyze the situation. "Why are you acting this way towards me." Neji grabbed her by the shoulders and steadied her so she wouldn't look away from him.

She sighed. "Neji, I don't think right now is the best time to talk about it."

"Why not? What's so wrong that you can't tell me?" The concern was unmistakable in his gaze and nearly broke her heart.

"Nothing is wrong...I'm just...Can we just save it until after the mission, please?" Putting as much emotion into her eyes as possible, Tenten hoped he would drop the subject.

"But..." His arms slacked and receded back to his sides.

"For now, do you just wanna spend the day together? I kinda don't want to be alone right now." She wrapped her arms around herself and looked away from him.

Neji slung an arm over her shoulder and turned her around away from the village. She casually wrapped her arm around his waist and they walked side by side together. The sun was setting now and it was getting close to their shift, but at least for now, they had each other—calming some of Tenten's nerves. For now, she was happy with things and possibly looking forward for the future.

Before they could spend some alone time together, though, there was a bright flash of light in the distance. Both shinobi noticed that it was a signal. Each ninja was given an emergency flare in case of an emergency because this was the village of mist which made visibility difficult. Immediately, both Tenten and Neji switched into gear and took off towards the light, though they weren't equipped enough to take on any high ranking criminals.

"So, you really don't want to talk right now?" He asked very abruptly as they zoomed through the trees.

"Neji! I really don't think this is the time." She shouted back while dodging low hanging branches because of the low visibility.

"Why?" He asked, matching her tone. "If it's important, shouldn't you tell me? How do I know that it won't affect the team or you or...us?"

"Y-You're worried about us?" She stopped on the nearest branch and gripped the bark of the tree. He was just a few branches ahead and turned back around to land on her branch.

Neji nodded. "Please, tell me." He begged.

She bit her lip. There was an immediate need to go help whoever signaled that flare but yet she was anxious about Neji's reaction. "I...uh..."

A couple of Kiri Jounin came zooming by, not taking a second glance at the couple hiding in the trees. When Tenten saw that they were heading in the right direction towards the flare, she felt a bit relieved and less rushed. So taking a deep breath, she continued. "Neji," he nodded, "this is my last mission."

"What do you mean?" Looking lost and concerned, he was hoping that she wasn't diagnosed with some disease or worse.

And as if she couldn't help it, a smile spread across her lips. "This is my last mission for now...because I'm pregnant."

* * *

><p>Lee was enjoying his time off like he would any other day. He had until dusk and so promised himself that he'd circle the entire village of Kirigakure on his hands, but half way through he decided to up his game and changed it to one hand. Covered in sweat and blinded by passersby, Lee found himself in the business district. There were a lot of people and most of them stared at him as they weren't used to the power of youth, but he didn't seem bothered. The only thing that bothered him was his stomach.<p>

He needed to eat but he didn't want to break his promise to himself, so he kept pushing himself. Lee eventually couldn't hold his weight anymore and collapsed to the ground. Everyone seemed to walk right past him, except for one person. She looked around his age with long blonde hair and large brown eyes. She smelled of fresh broth and barbeque pork as well as a hint of fresh rain. There was a bit of concern in her eyes as she helped him to his feet. Weakly, he allowed her to and tried his best to support his own weight but he hadn't eaten anything in twenty-four hours.

This woman helped him inside a barbeque restaurant and sat him in a booth. His head fell onto the table and she left him alone. Still feeling weak, he decided not to talk and instead waited for her return. A few minutes went by and she came back with a hot bowl of ramen with extra broth. She sat it down in front of him and took a seat opposite him, watching as he ate the ramen vigorously.

"What were you doing walking around town on your hands?" She asked, leaning on her hand.

He swallowed a large gulp of broth before speaking. "I was keeping a promise."

"To whom?"

"To myself. I promised myself that I would circle the village on nothing but my hands." He pounded his chest and spoke with intense passion.

"Why?"

"Why to train of course. As you can see," he pointed to his vest, "I'm a shinobi of Konohagakure and just because I'm here doesn't mean I can't train."

"And why are you here?" She was full of questions.

He swallowed another round of broth. "Because of a mission. You see, Kiri asked Konoha for a few shinobi to round up a few criminals...Uh, maybe, I shouldn't have told you that."

"It's okay. I already know about the jailbreak." Oddly, she smiled then. "The whole village has been talking about it."

"Oh," he slurped up the last of the ramen and sighed proudly, patting his stomach. "Thank you so much, miss...?"

"Oh, excuse me. My name's Kira, Akatumi Kira." She held out her hand across the table and being a gentleman, Lee shook it. "And what about you, mister Konoha-nin?"

"Where are my manners," he got up from his seat and bowed, "I am Rock Lee of Konohagakure, a member of Team Gai."

Kira smiled, revealing a set of pearly whites and a small dimple on her right side. There was also a light dust of freckles on her cheeks and a beauty mark under her left eye. She seemed young but there was a glimmer in her eye that said otherwise as if she'd seen sinister things, though he disregarded it. Kira was wearing a plain colored tunic underneath a fading gray apron which meant that she was somehow involved in this restaurant.

"Well, I don't like to dine and dash so please let me pay for the ramen." He insisted.

She shook her head. "Oh no, no, no. That won't be necessary, Lee-kun."

"But please, Kira-chan, I insist on paying for the meal. It's the least I could do."

Again, Kira shook her head. "If you pay for that meal, you will bring shame upon my honor. I insist that you take that bowl as contribution to your mission." She was smooth. It was as if this wasn't her first starving shinobi she had fed.

"Well...if it brings shame upon your honor, then I guess I don't have a choice. But at least let me repay you in some way. If you don't let me do this, then it would bring shame to my honor." He pleaded to her.

There was a glint in her eye as a smile started to creep into place. "Alright then, my shift ends later tonight and there is a small festival downtown. Would you care to take me?"

The offer was tempting and normally, Lee wouldn't refuse any way to repay a debt, but because of his mission, he was torn between what to do. With a sigh, he hung his head in shame, "Sadly, I can't agree to that. My duties resume at dusk."

"Fine," she said. "Then meet me here at tomorrow, say noon?"

He smiled very brightly. "Then it's agreed. I'll see you here tomorrow at noon."

* * *

><p>Sakura was no stranger to hospitals. In fact, it was like her second home, but being in a strange hospital was completely different than back at home. She did the best she could healing Sasuke's broken arm with medical jutsu so now it was all up to him to heal the rest of the way. As she was looking for bandages, she couldn't help but to peek glances at him.<p>

Sasuke seemed a bit distracted. His eyes were distant and once again he was cutting himself off from her. Sakura couldn't stand when he did that. The next thing he needed was to be alone in his thoughts, destroying whatever self-esteem he had left which not only affected him but her as well. She couldn't afford to lose him, not now and not ever.

Finally, after she found the bandages, Sakura started to wrap up his arm. There was the usual hospital buzz in the background, but she was used to tuning that out. Unfortunately, she would've welcomed the noise if it meant she could avoid the awkward silence. "Um, Sasuke?"

He looked up but there was still a blank stare in his eyes as if he wasn't really listening. "Hmm," he nodded.

"What did he say to you?"

"Who?" Sasuke was clearly not paying attention, judging from the puzzled expression on his face.

She rolled her eyes and kept wrapping. "The shinobi. He must've said something to you because you haven't spoken a word since we arrived."

He shook his head, "Well, there has been something bothering me." She waited for him to respond. "His name. I heard his name from one of the lackeys and I feel as if I've heard that name before."

"What was it?" She asked. "The name, I mean."

"Ankoku," he sighed, "It doesn't seem like his first name, more like a clan name..." Sasuke trailed off as he slunk back into his thoughts.

She finished with his bandaging and slapped him on the leg, lightly of course, to get his attention. Giving him a smile, she took his hand. "Come on, I think the Mizukage has files on all the criminals that escaped. If he truly is one, then there should be something on this Ankoku."

He nodded in confirmation and got up from the cot. But just before they left the hospital, they ran into some familiar faces. Both Neji and Tenten were together and they seemed like they were in a rush. Once Neji saw Sasuke, he immediately let go of Tenten's hand and crossed his arms over his chest to seem more threatening. Ever since the Uchiha had been let back into the ninja world, he's been on edge whenever he was around, keeping track of everything Sasuke did. It seemed that the Hyuuga wasn't ready to accept the Uchiha back to Konoha's fighting force.

"Oh, Sakura, Sasuke," Tenten acknowledged both of them, "I'm glad we caught you guys. Are you alright?"

Sakura nodded. "Yeah, I just had a few scrapes and bruises but Sasuke broke his arm."

"Can't handle the work load?" Neji muttered under his breath, clearly directing the question towards the Uchiha.

Everyone heard him, even Sasuke, but thankfully he didn't mention it. Trying to avoid that can of worms, both Sakura and Tenten changed the subject. "Anyway, why are you guys here?"

"We saw a flare in the sky and immediately went to help out, but a few Kiri Jounin beat us there and took you guys here. We had to fill out a report and now we're starting our shift early. I just wanted to make sure the both of you were okay before we left." Tenten explained.

"I'm sorry, you guys. Luckily, though, there aren't many criminals left, and if you really want to hope, maybe Naruto and Hinata caught the last of them." She was genuinely sorry about what happened because now Team Gai had extra hours added onto their shift.

"Oh, it's no—"

"Don't say it's a problem, Tenten." Neji interrupted her. Before the mission started, Tenten was the one that seemed pissed at the world, now it was Neji's turn. "She shouldn't be here."

Tenten turned on her heel and glared at him. Clearly, there was a silent conversation going on between the two of them.

"Neji," Sakura butted in, "I don't think that's your call. Tenten is a capable kunoichi who can handle herself. You shouldn't be making her decisions."

He kept his mouth shut but grunted a response, practically storming out of the room. Tenten shrugged and gave an apologetic look before chasing after him. Something was happening between the two of them but at the moment Sakura wasn't that concerned, knowing that the kunoichi can handle her own problems. Her and Sasuke left the building and headed towards the archive building.

Because this was Kirigakure, neither shinobi knew where the building was but after getting some directions, they were able to find it. Sasuke seemed to be lit with passion as he analyzed every scroll that he found. Sakura was happy to see this fire and took after as she copied his vigor. They searched in the library until the sun started to set and turn to a burning orange mixed with reds, golds, and even shades of purple. Twilight was starting to dawn on them and they were running out of time.

"I found him!" Sakura was filled with joy as she cleared a table and spread the scroll out so that Sasuke could read it. "Ankoku Inken," she started to read ahead and kept her mouth agape with surprise.

"What? What is it?" Sasuke asked as he made his way over to her. Once he read over her shoulder, he understood her sudden silence.

"'Ankoku Inken,'" she read from the text aloud, "'is the eldest son of the Shadow Daimyo and the head of the Ankoku clan, famous for their 'Spiritual Chakra.' He was caught stealing rare jewels from the Kirigakure treasury where he killed five Jounin shinobi alone. His sentence was set to life in prison and if his clan was to step foot in this country, they would be taken down without hesitation.'" Sakura was horrified at the reading.

"Is this the only scroll you found of him?" Sasuke asked, snapping Sakura out of her thoughts.

She shook her head and pulled out another scroll that had some information on the Ankoku clan. She read, "'The Ankoku clan is famous for its priests and clergymen who perform exorcisms for 'cursed' temples and homes as well as businesses, but there are few within the clan that possess the unusual chakra. They call this Spirit Chakra. It still remains a mystery as to what this special chakra does for the host, but some accounts say that the people can see other people's souls and determine if they are good or evil while others say they can control the dead. Whatever the case, it seems that there are no more people that possess the clan's once treasured styles of Oniton and Reiton.'"

"How old is this scroll?" Sasuke was scanning any part of it for a date, but there wasn't any that he could see.

Sakura, too, was searching for a date but couldn't find one. "Well, by the style of the calligraphy, I think it has to be about fifty years old."

"That ninja, Ankoku, used something called Oniton." Sasuke remembered and said aloud more to himself. "After that, he was able to extract your chakra."

"And last night, he was the intruder and he was able to wear chakra as a mask. He looked exactly like you and acted like you, for the most part, but it definitely wasn't a transformation jutsu. I really can't explain what it was." She said.

Sasuke's eyes widened after he reread the other scroll that contain information about Ankoku Inken. "It says he's the Shadow Daimyo's son."

Sakura took a look at the scroll once more and did a double take. "Does that mean he's related to Damnitake Tchakara? If so...then I know where he's heading."

* * *

><p>Naruto was always so cute when he slept. Hinata always admired the fact he could fall asleep anywhere and couldn't help but to watch him sleep. His eyes were closed but she could see them move rapidly under his lids. He must've been sleeping very deeply which made her wonder what he was dreaming about. His breathing was also relaxed as his chest gently rose and fell with his hand placed on top. She smiled and quickly changed for the night, getting into bed next to him.<p>

Hinata also liked his warmth. Naruto was a very warm person which made him perfect for cuddling or a space heater. She couldn't help but to curl up next to him. Laying her head on top of his chest, she listened to the soft murmur of his heart as it beat to the rhythm of his dream. And when she touched him, he smiled as if he knew she was there beside him. Seeing him smile made her want to smile in return and fall asleep, but the latter wasn't going to happen right away because he spoke just then.

"Hinata..." he breathed her name and it was like a soft summer breeze touching her skin. His breath was just as warm as he was yet it sent chills down her spine and caused her whole body to shudder. As if feeling her shudder next to him, Naruto smiled. "Hmm...Hinata..."

"What is it, Naruto?" She whispered and played along with his delusion.

He sighed, eyes still closed. "Kiss me..."

She had to refrain a giggle. "We can't, silly." Hinata wasn't sure what he was dreaming about, but she didn't want to disturb his peaceful sleep.

His face contorted into a frown which felt wrong to her. She felt saddened herself as if his emotions were affecting her. "Why?" Naruto asked, still in his dreamy and infectious tone.

"I...don't know." She replied. If he was awake, she would've complied with his request, but because he needed his sleep lately, Hinata was unsure whether or not to do so.

"Please...?" His beseeching tone was hard to ignore.

Sighing in defeat, she thought that a small peck on the cheek wouldn't cause him harm or stir him. So, she propped herself on her arm and leaned in to give him a small kiss on his cheek. But without any warning, Naruto's hand shot up and cupped the back of her head, redirecting her from her original target. She soon found herself locking lips with her unconscious boyfriend, though she was sure he was no longer asleep.

Hinata didn't pull away, though. Instead, she kissed him back and without really realizing it, she moved her hands to the back of his neck. As her eyes closed, his eyes opened and Naruto realized what was going on. The smile against her lips told her that he was finally awake, and now that they guilt passed, she pressed into it harder. Her body moved without any hesitation on top of his as she straddled his nearly naked hips. It was as if she was in control now and his body moved to meet hers as he started to sit up in bed. He carefully pulled her into his lap and wrapped his arms around her waist, trying not to break their heated kiss.

Naruto pulled on the ribbon that held Hinata's hair in place for the night and let her hair fall around her shoulders like early twilight falling over white snow. She followed his actions by running her hands through his own golden locks. His hair may look like spikes dipped in sunshine, but they were as soft as a fox's fur. To her, he had many fox-like features but they weren't obvious as many people might've thought they were. His grin was one of them as though it was created to throw you off guard and his body was built lean yet muscular, perfect for speed. To him, she was the exact opposite of himself. Hinata was a rare gem that he had in his possession, his own perfect discovery. She was as graceful as a cat and trusting as a carrier hawk, all the while having the same beauty as a newly hatched butterfly. They perfectly belonged together.

Because he was already down to his boxers, Hinata was now the focus for their fevered moments. Naruto's fingers fumbled with her shirt as he clumsily slipped it up over her head and resumed their kiss. She let him caress her body as he trailed kisses up and down her neck and newly revealed flesh. By the way he kissed her, she could tell he wasn't going to stop. She was a bit worried for a moment about what could happen in the heat of the moment, but by the time her mind was thinking of the possibilities, she was already lost in his touches. Hinata wouldn't be able to regain herself and so, she let him have her...completely. It wasn't the first time, but in a way, it felt special. Maybe it was the fact they weren't in the village or maybe it was the moment. Whatever it is, she doesn't fight it and she can tell he doesn't either.

* * *

><p><em>These are some lyrics that I thought went best with this specific chapter:<em>

_"You owe me  
>I owe you, promises<br>That will keep you say..._

_You adore me  
>Well, I don't know how your love is so<br>So strong  
>You would breathe for me<br>Do anything to hold me  
>To hold on and...<em>

_What did I do  
>To deserve<br>This affection?  
>What did I say<br>That made you feel this way?  
>This way about me...<em>

_You love me  
>You always watch me<br>From so far, you say..._

_You adore me  
>Well, I don't know who or what you are<br>But you would bleed for me  
>Do anything to hold me<br>To hold and..._

_What did I do  
>To deserve<br>This affection?  
>What did I say<br>That made you feel this way?  
>This way about me...<em>

_What did I do  
>To deserve<br>This affection?  
>What did I say<br>That made you feel this way?  
>This way..."<em>

_Hope__ you guys enjoyed this chapter! There's more to come!_


	15. Confrontations

Chapter 15

Confrontations

After finding the information on Inken, both Sasuke and Sakura couldn't wait to get back to the village. In order to go to Kagegakure, they would need the permission of their Hokage, and lucky for them, Neji's team finished that night. The next morning both teams were prepared to set out ot Konoha, but Lee asked to stay. In fact, he practically begged. It was a bit out of character, but Tenten felt bad and allowed Team Seven to go back to Konoha. Neither Sasuke nor Sakura told the others about what happened the day before with their encounter, so it was only by coincidence that she let them off the hook.

Sakura was in charge of the team and told them to pack up immediately. Thankfully, there wasn't much to pack and they left before noon. She led the team without rest with Sasuke by her side. Naruto was clearly confused as to why it was so important to get back to the village whereas Hinata assumed it was because of the twins. At the pace they were going, they were able to reach Konoha by sundown. Trying to maintain the whole thing a secret, Sakura kindly told Naruto and Hinata that she would deliver the report. They thanked her and both Sasuke and Sakura made their way to the Hokage's office.

Sakura blew by Shizune who was yapping about not being able to enter the office, but she didn't care. If Naruto could get away with barging in on Tsunade, then she had just as every right, considering that was her master and all.

"Tsunade-sama, I'm so sorry, but they wouldn't listen to me." Shizune started and stopped when the Hokage put up her hand.

"It's all right, Shizune. I'll handle this." She told the woman, dismissing her. When she left, Tsunade put her pen down and brought her attention up to her student. "What is it, Sakura?"

"I came to give our report." She didn't want to spring what she really wanted to tell her right away.

"That won't be necessary at this moment. You just got back. Go rest." Tsunade waved them off and tried to continue on her work, but neither of them were leaving. "Is there anything else?"

"Actually, yes..." Sakura went on to tell her about the night Inken broke into their room, how he stole Sasuke's chakra, and the next day did the same to her. She told her about what they found in Kiri's archive about the Ankoku clan and how they might be related to the Shadow Daimyo. "So, as you can see, our mission is still not complete. However, we need your permission to pursue him into the Land of Shadows. Will you?"

The room was silent for awhile as Tsunade bit the bottom of her lip and contemplated the situation. Sakura couldn't stand still any longer and started to shift her weight between feet and Sasuke simply remained in the background as he leaned against the wall, cradling his broken arm instead of crossing them over his chest.

"I don't know, Sakura...This mission was originally requested by the Mizukage. This is her escaped convict and no matter what damage he did to either you or Sasuke, it doesn't give us ground to intervene in his capture." She sighed. Tsunade knew the feeling, though, of not having her questions being answered and that was nagging her in the back of her mind. "Let me contact the Mizukage, but for now, both of you take a rest. Looking at Sasuke, it seems he needs to be treated properly."

Even though she didn't say yes, Sakura couldn't help but to feel a bit happy. It was just one more step into the direction she wanted to go. If Tsunade says no, though, she wasn't sure how she was going to figure this out. "Arigato, Tsunade-sama." Sakura bowed and turned around to leave.

"Oh, and Sakura?" Tsunade called after her.

She turned around, "Yes?"

"The next time you leave on a mission, make sure that the twins are in good hands." The Hokage was trying hard not to smile, but anyone could tell that she was behind her hands.

"H-Hai." She nodded and left.

Sasuke followed right behind her but didn't say a word. In the back of Sakura's mind, she couldn't help but to think about the twins. It was the first time in a few days that she thought about them. And the comment that Tsunade left her was also intriguing. What did Shikamaru do that made the Hokage notice? He was in charge of watching two small children which should have been nothing compared to the squad of Chunins he usually leads.

"So..." Sasuke began, "where are we heading?"

Sakura had lost herself in her thoughts and wasn't really heading in any direction. Sasuke must've picked up on that because he grabbed her hand with his good one. That reminded her that he needed to be patched up properly which left them no choice but to head to the hospital first. "Come on, let's get you fixed up." She winked and started to pull him towards the hospital.

At the hospital, Sakura was able to perform a much better x-ray on Sasuke's broken arm. It seemed that it wasn't as bad as she thought it was. It was a minor hairline fracture, starting from his wrist up to his mid-forearm. She sighed a breath of relief after finding out it wasn't major. With a hairline fracture, Sakura would have to tell him not to do anything physical for a few weeks, which meant that if they got approved for their mission he would have no choice but to be on his best behavior. No fighting. He would only accompany her for an intimidation effect.

She gave him a few painkillers and wrapped his wrist in fresh bandages. The whole not fighting was going to kill Sasuke on the inside, but she knew he'd have no choice but to comply, considering she was his only hope of healing faster. Fixing bones wasn't her forte, but they were trying to keep everything on the down-low so her techniques were going to have to do. Unless...

"Oh, Sakura-senpai, when did you get back?" Yuki had been passing by the room when she noticed her senpai tending to Sasuke. Her brilliant red hair was curled today and they bounced with every step she took.

Just the medical-nin she wanted to see. Yuki had a knack for fixing bones. She was a medical mystery but if you wanted something done, she was your expert. The only thing was the pain. Sakura had seen many big, burly men cry and beg for the procedure to end, but once it starts, you can't end it. Hopefully, with this being a minor hairline fracture, the procedure wouldn't be that bad.

"Hey, Yuki-chan." Sakura gave her a warm smile. "We just got back."

The girl returned the smile and then looked over at Sasuke who was holding his wrist in mid-bandage wrapping. He didn't look too happy. "What happened to Sasuke-kun?" She asked as her eyes wandered around the room before landing on the x-ray still hanging up behind them.

"We had a little mishap. I was just wrapping his wrist. Hey," Sakura tried to transition this as coyly as possible, "would you be able to work your magic?"

Yuki bit her lip. She had done the procedure so many times and every time it would be the same pain-ridden scream and begging. A few weeks ago, Yuki told the hospital that she no longer wanted to perform the procedure anymore under any circumstances. "I don't know, senpai..."

"Don't worry about Sasuke. He can handle pain." She waved nervously.

"Sakura, what are...?"

"Shh," she shushed him and he gave her a strange look that was a mix of confusion and flabbergast. "So...?"

Yuki sighed in defeat, knowing she couldn't deny her senpai. "I guess I could do it..."

"Oh, thank you so much, Yuki-chan!" She gave her a hug and ushered her into the room, closing the door behind her.

Once the woman was in the room, Sakura noticed how she was dressed. Yuki's hair was curled for a reason and the dress she was wearing told her it wasn't for any old dinner. She wore a deep hunter green dress that cut right above her knee with black lace jutting out underneath and heart shaped bodice. She also had on black heels that clicked when she walked and stunning silver jewelry that seemed someone would only use on a special occasion. Yuki was breathtakingly beautiful.

"Wow," Sakura breathed. "Am I inconveniencing you?"

She shook her head. "No, I mean, this won't take long."

"Where were you heading?" She was curious.

Yuki started to blush. "Well, I, uh, had plans with Kiba-kun tonight and—"

"You and Kiba? Oh, I'm so proud of you, Yuki-chan!" She couldn't help but hug the girl. Sakura knew that Yuki had issues with Kiba because she would get flustered and stutter around him. It was just as bad as Hinata's symptoms with Naruto.

"Well, then, shall we fix some bones?" Yuki approached Sasuke.

He grimaced but held out his wrist for her to examine. She nodded as she gently turned it over in her hands. Sakura watched as she tuned everything out and went into full doctor mode. She noticed how much her apprentice had grown since the war and felt proud at what she learned and applied since then. There was nothing more that she could teach the woman and it was a good feeling. After Yuki was done examining his wrist, her one had started to glow that familiar green hue while she hovered her other hand over his wrist. So far, there was no screaming.

Her other hand started to turn a dark blue and the room began to get cold. Sakura could see her breath even though the hospital had functioning heat docks. She realized that this was the first time she saw the procedure in action and couldn't steal her eyes away from the red head. Yuki placed her dark blue hand over her green one, and that's when Sakura noticed the change. Sasuke didn't scream but his face contorted into pain. She'd seen the look before and like every time, it pained her to see him like this. His skin started to take on a cold bluish hue as Sakura could see his breath. Whatever she was doing, it was having an effect on him.

His good hand balled into a fist at his side as he tried to hold in the scream that wanted to escape. It felt like an eternity to Sakura as she sat by watching. She tried to take her mind off it by focusing on his chakra. It takes a great amount of energy to fluctuate its natural flow, and so the steady stream was comforting to her. Everything went silent in the room, even the machines seemed to kill their sound as Yuki continued to work. After ten minutes, the medical ninja finally finished and wiped away the slight sheen of sweat that had appeared on her forehead.

"Done," she declared. Yuki backed away and examined her work, allowing a smile to spread across her face after seeing how nicely she'd done. "I must admit, Sasuke-kun, you sure are brave. You're the first one never to scream during that process. If only everyone had your restraint." She turned around to face Sakura, "Is that all, Sakura-senpai?"

She nodded and dismissed the girl after she wished her good luck on her date. Yuki blushed then and stumbled on her way out. Luckily, the girl didn't ask what happened and Sakura was thankful for that. She turned to face Sasuke who was busy examining his newly healed wrist. It was like brand new. "Alright, I think we should pay someone a visit." She smiled while he simply stared at her questioningly.

Sakura was anxious now to reach Shikamaru's place. She wanted to see the twins in the worst way, but when she got there, she was a bit surprised at who answered the door. Sakura was expecting to see Shikamaru. Instead, Temari from Sunagakure was there. She was dressed in nothing but a long sleeved black shirt and her hair wasn't tied into its usual four ponytails. In fact, it seemed as if she had been here longer than a day.

When Temari saw both Sakura and Sasuke, she, too, was surprised. Her face looked as if she was expecting someone else. "Oh, Sakura...What can I help you with?" She suddenly felt conscious about how she was dressed and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Where's Shikamaru?" She tried peering in, but the place was dimly lit with candles. Definitely something was going to happen.

"He had to run out. Why?"

"Well, he was supposed to be watching two kids for me. Are they still here?"

Temari shook her head. "No, that's why he left. He was taking them to Kurenai's, I think."

She sighed. 'Note to self: Next time I'm looking for a babysitter, make sure it's one that's not currently dating anyone.' she thought. "Thanks, Temari-chan, and, uh, have fun." She winked and turned around before she could see the woman blush. She made her way to Kurenai's with Sasuke close at her side. She could tell he wasn't really paying attention and instead was still flexing his once broken arm.

Once they reached the former sensei's house, Sakura was the one who knocked on her door. She answered and didn't seem to be surprised by Sakura and Sasuke's presence. Instead, she gave a slight smile and ushered them inside. Sakura was a bit touched when she saw Kurenai's daughter, Asaka, playing with the twins. They were sitting upright against several pillows so that their bodies couldn't wriggle free and Asaka was eagerly tending to them. It was really adorable.

"What's she doing?" Sakura whispered, not wanting to disrupt the scene.

"She's playing 'Mommy'." Kurenai smiled and kept her voice down as well. "Having younger children in the house made her act different. I think she'll be a teacher one day."

They took a seat on the couch, but this caused Asaka to take notice of the adults. She smiled and ran over to hug her mother before going back and giving Suzu a dolly to "play with". Sakura couldn't divert her gaze away from the children and she noticed that neither could Sasuke. In fact, he seemed more attentive than she was.

"I've been meaning you ask you something." Kurenai started. "Do you know anything about the Sintessa clan?"

Sakura nodded. "Mai and even Ziom told me a few things. The Sintessa clan are natural born healers and have a low mortality rate. Ziom told me that they're related to the Shoton kekkei genkai by blood as well. Also, another common trait is their white hair."

"Don't you find it strange, though, that they were born after being six months in the womb, yet they were born healthy?"

Sakura had to think about that. At the time of their birth, she was only relieved that they survived the ordeal and didn't even consider any of the medical things. Even after the birth, she never reflected on that. She stared at them now and saw that they had gained a bit of weight, probably around ten pounds each now, and couldn't see any medical issue at all. Yet they were born premature and most babies born premature remained in the hospital for a few months until they gained weight and grew healthier, but not all babies survived being born premature. And to make matters even more confusing, they were twins. If they were born after the usual nine months, they would still be a bit under weight compared to a normal single baby. It was odd that none of that seemed to be affecting these two.

"I never thought about it." She said mostly to herself.

"Well, I didn't notice anything strange, but I was curious. You said the clan had a low mortality rate, why is that?" Kurenai asked.

"Mai told me they suffered from an incurable blood disease called Ketsueki Doku. She was in the middle of finding a cure when she became pregnant and halted all experiments until the baby—babies—were born."

"An incurable disease, you say? Maybe that has something to do with the twins."

"What do you mean?" Sakura knew Kurenai wasn't a medical-nin but she did spend a lot of time reading and doing all various research. She could've been a theoretical medical-nin by now.

"I mean, that maybe because of their disease, their bodies have sort of mutated throughout the generations. With a low mortality rate, maybe the women usually give birth early. I mean, I remember seeing Mai-chan when she was still pregnant and she looked as though she was about to pop around six months. It's not common in the least bit." Kurenai explained.

She thought about the logic and it did make sense. A clan that would die at an early age for many generations would probably evolve a bit faster than most. In order to cure itself, their bodies had started producing offspring earlier than most people. "I guess I see what you mean. I'll have to look into that."

"Sakura-neesan!" Asaka came rushing over with a great smile on her face and began to tug on Sakura's leg. "Are you taking back Suzu-chan and Ria-kun?"

Sakura smiled at the girl and then looked over to Kurenai. "Actually, I was hoping that Shikamaru could keep them for a few more days because Sasuke and I are waiting for an approval on this mission, but seeing as he gave the twins to you..." she trailed off, not really knowing how to ask the woman.

Kurenai simply smiled and nodded. "I would be happy to watch them. Besides, Asaka enjoys having them around."

"Oh, thank you so much." Sakura told her.

After having a cup of tea and kissing the twins goodnight, they left Kurenai's house. They were still waiting on Tsunade's reply if the mission got approve, so they were taking their time, heading home for the night. Sakura walked hand in hand with Sasuke, something they hadn't done for a while, and she let herself lean against him. The moon was visible now with its crescent smile shining down on them as they strolled. The wind was chilling, but it was one of those rare nights where it felt like spring instead of winter, so for now, Sakura enjoyed the night.

Sasuke brushed some of her hair off her shoulder and kissed the bare skin. He moved his arm to around her waist and pulled her beside him. He had remained quiet throughout the entire day, giving a few expressions here and there. She wanted to hear him talk if only it was for a little moment.

"Weren't the twins cute?" She asked, hoping to strike up a conversation.

He nodded.

Sakura had forgotten that when he got like this, she would have to result to more than yes or no answers. "I mean, what Kurenai-sensei said was pretty convincing. Maybe they weren't born premature, you know?" He remained silent. "What do you think?"

He sighed as if finally acknowledging the conversation. "I don't know."

"Do you even care for them, Sasuke?" She asked, which caused them to stop walking.

Sasuke just looked at her as if she said something repulsive. "Why would you think that?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. It just seems that you haven't taken too much of a liking to either of them."

"I never said I didn't care for them." He muttered, a shy blush creeping on his face as his eyes tried to divert from hers.

"So, you do like them?"

He nodded. "I mean, they have some enjoying qualities." Sasuke coughed as if to cover his tracks. She smiled though as he continued. "Well...I mean, uh, they aren't going to be with us for much longer, so..."

Now it was her turn to look confused.

"You said that they were only staying temporarily with us until they were found a home. How much longer can it take?"

"So, are you trying to get rid of them?"

He quickly shook his head, knowing where this conversation was heading. "No, no! I'm just saying...that you shouldn't get too attached. They aren't stray animals that you pick up off the streets and bring them in. They are human beings that need constant care, and I don't think that this is the right moment to be caring for kids."

"This...isn't the right moment?" She seemed to have a hard time saying the words.

"Yes, that's what I'm saying."

"So, you mean, that in the near future, you wouldn't mind having kids?" Sakura asked, her cheeks turning a bright crimson color.

He gulped. Sasuke knew he wanted kids in the future because he did want to rebuild the Uchiha clan, but at this moment, he was busy trying to rebuild his reputation and trust in the village. "I...uh, um," he stammered. To think that an Uchiha was capable to stammer, especially in front of a woman.

"Sakura-san! Sasuke-san!" It was Sai's voice and though Sakura was disappointed that he was interrupting them, Sasuke was relieved. They waited patiently for him to deliver what he needed to. "Hokage-sama wanted to see you in her office right now."

"Arigato, Sai." Sakura gave him a smile before turning to Sasuke, "This conversation isn't over." And with that she took off towards the Hokage's building with a silent Sasuke following closely behind her. She could tell that Sai didn't follow them and was a bit relieved by that.

Once they reached Tsunade's office, they were immediately allowed in, for once not having to barge in with a barking Shizune behind them. Sakura didn't have time to sit before Tsunade started talking.

"I'm glad you could get here so fast." She began.

"I didn't know this was urgent." Sakura told her.

"Actually, it's more urgent than you think. I have a very important mission for the both of you as well as two others, once they get here."

"We're here, Hokage-sama." The familiar tone of Kakashi's voice filled the room. He was dressed back in his usual attire, prepared for anything. And closely behind him was a dazing, grumpy Shikamaru who was muttering something to himself. "Sorry, you see there was this cat—"

"We don't have time for this right now, Kakashi." Tsunade grumbled. "Alright, now that all of you are here, we can begin the debriefing." She shuffled some papers and started up again, "There have been recent sightings of a man in Kagegakure who greatly resembles Katorabe Ziom who is believed dead. If he is in fact still alive, he is wanted for the death of Sintessa Mai and the abandonment of the village without proper leave. Your mission is to infiltrate the shinobi village and find any information that you can relating to Katorabe Ziom. If you encounter him, you have full authority to arrest and bring him back. Do you accept the mission?"

Sakura's heart stop and she immediately looked back to see Shikamaru, no longer grumbling but instead fully intent and aware of every word Tsunade spoke. Sasuke reached out and squeezed her hand, reassuring her that he was with her every step of the way of which she tried to smile. They all nodded.

"Good. I'm appointing Hatake Kakashi the leader of this squad. If you encounter any resistance, you may use force to bring him back so that he can go on trial. Also," Tsunade directed the next portion directly to Sasuke and Sakura, "if either of you two notice any signs of Ankoku Inken's presence in the village, you are to send a hawk to Kirigakure immediately. It is their business to handle this, not yours. Do you understand?" She looked at Sakura, knowing she would obey the rules better.

"Yes, Tsunade-sama." Sakura agreed.

"Alright, your entrance into the city must be kept a secret. Because we aren't too familiar with the territory or the inhabitants, such as shinobi and guard, you four are to enter as regular travelers. There is a carriage waiting outside the village, but you only have thirty minutes before it leaves. If you miss this carriage, this mission is as good as terminated. You are dismissed." Her voice was always so full of authority and always caused Sakura to feel both awed and intimidated.

All four of them dispersed as they made their ways back to their places to pack for the trip. Because they needed to disguise themselves like travelers and citizens, they needed to pack carefully in case there were baggage checks before entering the village. Sakura was careful to hide her kunai in places that weren't obvious to look. In fact, not even someone possessing the Byakugan could see the hidden weapons. Once they were both done packing, they hurried over to the Konoha's entrance where the supposed carriage was waiting.

Seeing Kakashi dressed in civilian clothing was a bit strange for both Sasuke and Sakura, considering they'd never seen him in anything other than a plain blue shirt and black pants. He wore dark pants and a deep blue tunic—not that much different than his civilian clothes back in the village—but he did wear a light gray scarf and a black overcoat with the hood pulled up. They both noticed that he wasn't wearing his mask and instead was letting the scarf cover his usually hidden bottom half of his face. Shikamaru was also there with him. His clothes were a bit more suited for travel than his usual civilian clothes. He, too, wore a traveler's cloak but this was a dark green color with deer hoof prints lining the hem of it. It seemed to be the clan's traveling cloak.

The carriage was smaller on the inside than it looked on the outside. Even though Sakura sat next to Sasuke and across from the other two, it was still crowded. Their knees knocked together and there was no elbow room at all. Luckily, though, she was sitting by the window and turned her attention to the changing scenery. This wouldn't be the first mission that she would have taken transportation for, but it was always strange for her. And this wasn't the fastest form of transportation she had used.

It was still late at night and neither Sasuke nor Sakura had slept in a while. Both of them were starting to feel exhausted and she remembered the painful procedure he had endured earlier. If they were to sleep in shifts, she was volunteering to stay awake. He was reluctant at first but gave into his exhaustion faster than she could change her mind. Kakashi also fell asleep. Sakura noticed how tired her old sensei had been lately. Having a newborn child was hard to take care of, but she never considered it that much.

She had always wanted children. That was a fact, and if they could be Sasuke's children as well, she would be more than happy to have them. The thing was, she wasn't ready to stop being a kunoichi yet. Sakura still felt a need to take care of business in the hospital. It was as if her calling wasn't finished yet and she still had so much to do. But what if she got pregnant unexpectedly? Would she be unhappy or joyous? She shook her head to avoid those questions. Right now, she was watching two wonderful children as it was and that was perfect for the time being. Thinking of the twins brought on another memory. A very fresh one...

"Shikamaru?" Sakura whispered, not wanting to wake up either Sasuke or Kakashi.

"Hm?" He, too, was staring out the window.

"Good you're awake." She smiled, but of course, he couldn't see that. "How long have you been seeing Temari?"

They had just passed under the moon's silvery light and she had caught a glimpse at a blush and shocked expression. Was their relationship a secret?

He remained silent.

"You don't have to keep it a secret from me. I saw her today when I went to get the twins. She didn't tell me anything, but I simply assumed..." She trailed off.

Shikamaru cleared his throat before speaking. "Yes...we're seeing each other."

"How long?" Finally, she found something that she wouldn't be bored with. Sakura eagerly waited for his answer.

"About a few months now. I only get to see her twice a month, considering she's Suna's ambassador to Konoha. If you ask me, the whole setup is troublesome, but she insists on keeping things the way they are." He explained while keeping the same hushed tone.

"Wow...so you and Temari, huh? I always thought those bossy women weren't your type."

He shrugged. "I'm starting to realize why my father's been with my mother for so long."

* * *

><p>By the time dawn was breaking, they were able to reach Kagegakure, although it was hard to tell until they were inside. The village is located between two cliff sides and was shrouded in darkness, even in the breaking daylight. Sakura felt unnerved as the carriage entered the darkness and couldn't help but sit on the edge of her cramped seat. She wasn't the only one feeling this way, though, as she noticed Sasuke and Kakashi were awake and examining everything as they passed.<p>

Once they were inside, though, the atmosphere changed. The darkness disappeared and was allowing the sun's light to enter. There were buildings carved into the cliff sides with intricate stairways and walkways leading up to them and around the village. The main road cut right through the valley and Sakura noticed that the shops were located mostly on this road, which must mean the houses were the ones carved on the cliffs. She also noticed that there were no other means of transportation besides small carriages like the one they were traveling in.

Despite being located in between the cliffs and having the name of Kage, the village was bright and full of life. There were a lot of people roaming around with a sort of urgent purpose. There were also plenty of trees and wildflowers around. The trees were tall and could challenge that of Konoha's great oaks and pines. They created small spots of shade and gave another sense of looming darkness like the cliffs provided outside the village. With this reminder, Sakura could feel the presence of something lurking in the shadows.

The carriage pulled over and allowed the shinobi to leave. They gathered their few belongings and watched as the carriage kept going forward and vanished into the exiting shadows. Sakura took in these sights with open eyes. Looking up, she could tell that the cliffs were at least a few hundred miles high, making escaping only two options. The citizens were trapped in this village like mice in a cage with their only exits being in the front of the village and perhaps the back. She could feel the uneasiness begin to boil inside of her again.

"Alright, let's split up." Kakashi was the team leader and so he was calling the shots. "We can cover more ground. We'll meet back here at noon, got it?"

They all nodded and went with the plan. Sakura made sure not to separate from Sasuke, though, because she wasn't sure how he would react if he found Inken. Plus, it would be a good cover story. A civilian couple taking a stroll around town. The only thing that would probably make them suspects would be the fact she was the only person in the village with pink hair.

As they strolled through town, taking glances at anyone suspicious, she noticed they all kinda resembled one another. There were a lot of people with black hair and pale skin, though their eyes all differed in colors. Sakura started to remember something that Ziom had told her about the meaning of colors and how they intensified in their hair and eyes...but lost the memory when she spotted someone.

Sasuke noticed her stillness and followed her gaze to a man in wealthy clothing. He had his raven black hair done up in a high ponytail with a few strands dangling in his eyes. His face was hard and his eyes were blank in their golden hue, though there was a faint trace of blue on the outer edges of his irises. There were a few men—heavily dressed in armor and various weapons—that were following close behind him. Every one of them looked like each other as if they were apart of the same clan and they all had the same scowl on their faces.

The man entered a store and Sakura could see him telling his guards to stay outside. This was their chance to see the man up close. Taking Sasuke's hand, she guided him towards the store and was careful not to notice the guards. The first thing she knew about recon was to act normal as if you belonged. No one else seemed to be paying attention to them, so she went along with it. It worked because they were able to make it in without being stopped.

Without any communication at all, both Sasuke and Sakura knew what to do. They broke apart and he went to explore around the store. It was a dress shop with various kimonos and Sasuke went to "look around" while Sakura went to approach him. She could tell it wasn't Inken, but something about him seemed familiar.

"Excuse me," Sakura spoke softly, sweetly to get his attention. Considering what he was wearing, this man was of higher class, and she was hoping that he would even think about conversing with someone of a lower class.

He turned around and gave her a warm smile, despite the conflicting emotions in his eyes. In fact, now that she was closer to him, she could see that he had bags under his eyes as if he hadn't been sleeping for the past few nights. She also noticed that he was wearing a necklace made of crystal, although it no longer produced a faint golden glow like it had. "Hello there, may I help you?"

"I believe you can." She said. Her heart had stopped after seeing the necklace, finally realizing that this was who she thought it was. Although, she knew the answer, she needed to hear him say it aloud. "You see, I'm looking for someone and you remind me of him. May I ask you your name?"

"Of course you may." He was so kind. He was always so kind. "My name is Katorabe Ziom."


	16. Dinner with the Devil

Chapter 16

Dinner with the Devil

"It is you," Sakura muttered under her breath.

Ziom simply stared at her, waiting for her to say something. When all he got was her large green eyes, he asked, "Do I know you from somewhere?"

She snapped out of her daze. "Uh, yeah. It's me, Haruno Sakura." This time it was his turn to stare at her. "Don't you remember me?"

Sadly, he shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I think I would've remembered someone like you." He took a strand of her pink hair and let it fall through his fingers.

This man claimed to be Katorabe Ziom. He had the same face and voice of the Ziom she knew. His eyes were a bit different though. They were sadder and more tired than she remembered even though they retained their golden hue. Maybe there were two Katorabe Zioms in the village. How popular was the name Ziom?

"Excuse me, Haruno-san—"

"Sakura, please call me Sakura." She insisted.

"Alright, Sakura-san," he insisted on using that honorific, "would you care to join me for dinner later tonight?"

She smiled at him even though she felt completely hollowed out. "I would love to. May I bring company?"

Sakura was sure that he was going to deny her, but he wasn't even hesitant in his answer. "Not at all. The more the merrier in fact." He continued to smile at her, repulsing Sakura even more. "I'm having an exclusive dinner tonight at the Shadow Daimyo's palace. If you encounter any problems, show them this," he gave her his crystal necklace, the one Mai made especially for him.

"Oh, thank you so much." Her gratefulness was starting to turn bitter.

"It's no problem at all," he told her. "I'm looking forward to catching up with you."

Ziom left the store then and when she knew his guards were gone, Sakura swore under her breath. Sasuke approached her and took her hand. He didn't know where he was going, but he knew if they were going to talk, they needed to leave. Once he knew they were safe from wandering ears he questioned her.

"What happened?" He stared at her intently, watching for any sign of distress.

"It was him, Sasuke. It was Ziom," it took everything she had not to burst out crying. It had been at least a month since he was declared killed in action, and seeing him brought up all kinds of emotions. As soon as she wanted to cry, she also wanted to chase after him and pummel him to the ground. How dare he have the gall not to remember her.

Sasuke got up and started to head in Ziom's direction. Sakura reached out for him and grabbed his wrist, restraining him from venturing any farther. He looked at her and she simply shook her head. Sasuke took a deep breath and resumed sitting next to her.

"We should arrest him." He told her. It was clear that the Uchiha didn't have any happy feelings when it came to the Katorabe. Why? She had no idea.

"He invited me to dinner." She muttered.

"So?"

"At the Shadow Daimyo's palace." Sakura looked at Sasuke and it seemed that he wasn't connecting the two things. Sighing, she continued, "We're also after Ankoku Inken and if he retreated to a safe place, it's most likely back at home. He has to be in that palace, so we can't arrest Ziom yet. He's our ticket in." She explained.

Sasuke grumbled and clearly looked like he wanted to punch something or someone. "Fine, but we have to report this to Kakashi, and then create a plan."

She simply nodded, feeling the strain of her exhaustion. Sakura didn't get any sleep last night in the carriage unlike Sasuke. He took notice of this, and as they left, firmly wrapped his arm around her waist, causing her to lean against him. All her weight was starting to transfer to him, and Sasuke was beginning to think that she wasn't going to last soon. He guided her back towards the meeting spot, and luckily they weren't the only ones meeting early.

Kakashi was sitting at a nearby cafe reading one of his books, but Sasuke could see his eye look up more than usual as if he was scanning the area. Only someone with a trained shinobi background could tell that he wasn't just reading a book. In fact, Sasuke recognized the title and knew that it was one that Kakashi had read before. As he approached his sensei, Kakashi noticed him. Their eyes met and Sasuke was able to give him a verbal signal as to where he was going to sit. He noticed that his sensei gave him a slight nod as if he understood.

Sasuke took a seat at the same cafe but a few distances away from Kakashi. Sakura was barely hanging on now, and he knew that she needed to rest. The only thing was that he needed to tell his squad leader. As if reading his mind, Kakashi was walking by and "noticed" Sasuke sitting at his table.

"Why, hello there." He said, even though you couldn't see his lower half of his face, anyone could tell that he was smiling. "I was just thinking to myself that I needed to come see you." Kakashi took a seat at the table and kept his voice low. "Is there a problem, Sasuke?"

He nodded but was a bit too busy keeping Sakura upright. "I'll explain everything soon, but I need to get her checked into an Inn. She was on watch last night and hasn't slept for the past two nights. I just needed to inform you of that." He explained.

Kakashi nodded, "Alright then. Meet me back here in fifteen minutes, can you do that in time?"

"Of course. We passed an Inn on our way over here." Sasuke got up from the table and helped Sakura on her feet. Wrapping his arm firmly around her waist, he was able to take on most of her weight while maintaining a facade to the people of Kagegakure of an involved couple.

They left the cafe and quickly camouflaged with the crowded streets. It was practically noon time now because there were more citizens and the village seemed to be suffocating with people. It took a little more time than Sasuke wanted, but they made it to the Inn he'd seen earlier. It was the only Inn that he'd noticed which didn't involve two flights of stairs. Despite the location on the crowded street, there weren't many people inside. There was someone behind a desk in the front and another person waiting by the window.

Sasuke approached the desk first, knowing that person worked here. The woman behind the desk had to be in her forties. She had a few wrinkles by her yellow eyes and there were a few strands of white mixed with her regular black hair. He recognized the clan symbol on the front of her desk and realized that this Inn was run by the Katorabe clan. 'So it's true. The Katorabe clan has much influence in this village than people may think.' he thought.

The woman smiled at him, showing that she still maintained a warm demeanor. "What can I do you for, honey?" She asked.

"I need a room. Preferably on the first floor." He told her, already presenting a good sum of money.

"Zutaru!" The woman called the man sitting by the window over. He was a young man with straggly black hair and dull golden eyes like the woman. There were a few bruises on his face and cuts on his arms, and he remained quiet. "Help this man to his room. Number 116 down the hall." She told him.

Zutaru held out his hand for Sasuke to give him his bag along with Sakura's but he denied the lad. Judging from the boy's appearance, he didn't want to bother him any more than he needed. The boy looked at his mother and she simply gave him a look that read, 'Don't ask just go.' He shrugged and took the keys from their rack, leading Sasuke with a passed out Sakura by his side.

The room was a bit small, but it was enough for two people. There was a single queen sized bed in the middle of the room and a dresser in the corner. A door was on the opposite side of the room which probably led to a private bathroom. There was a large window that took up an entire wall, but luckily there was an equally large curtain covering it from onlookers.

Sasuke turned around to tip the boy, but he was already gone. Shrugging, he helped Sakura into the bed. She was like a rag doll in his hands as he tucked her in and placed her bag in one of the drawers. He checked the room before leaving in case it was bugged. When he felt as if the room was secure, he gave Sakura a small kiss on her forehead, brushing her bangs from her eyes and told her that he'd be right back. She gave a small sigh in return and rolled onto her side, finally drifting off into a deep slumber.

He made sure that the door to their room was locked before leaving and head down the hall. When Sasuke entered the main room of the Inn, he noticed that the woman was gone as well as the young boy. He didn't think much of it and simply left. It was probably around twelve-thirty now and he knew that both Kakashi and Shikamaru were waiting for him. As he approached the cafe, Sasuke started to feel a bit different. A few years ago, he wouldn't have been taking orders from Kakashi nor would he be concerned for Sakura's safety. In fact, he wouldn't have thought of rejoining the Konoha that ordered the death of his clan or called his brother a criminal and traitor. Just thinking about those days made his blood boil again, but he remembered his time during his coma where he thought he was simply dreaming. The conversations he had with Itachi, whether real or not, had impacted him because here he was trying to make a difference and helping out Konoha. Not only that but he now had genuine feelings for Sakura. They crept up on him for sure, but they were real enough to make him want to protect her with everything he had.

"Sasuke," Kakashi's voice broke through his thoughts, making him realized he had stopped at his table. Clearly they had been trying to get his attention for a while. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, forget about it." He waved him off. Lately, he'd been losing his senses to his thoughts, often staring off into nothing and letting his mind wander. He also knew that Sakura was concerned about this aspect of him because when he would come to she'd be trying to get his attention and her eyes would be brimming with worry.

Sasuke sat down across from Shikamaru and glanced at the both of them. They were hesitant to talk to him as far as he could tell and sighed. Getting their trust back was definitely harder than he thought.

"Anyway, how's Sakura?" Kakashi asked.

"She's fine. Exhausted, but fine." He said.

"So, what's it that you needed to tell us?" Shikamaru asked. Ever since Sasuke rejoined Konoha, he'd been looking at him with calculated eyes as if he always has a plan to put him down in case the Uchiha snapped. Those eyes would unease him.

"Sakura spotted him around eleven-thirty this morning. She encountered him in a shop and started to talk to him." Now he had their undivided attention. "She told me he had no recollection of her."

"No recollection, at all?" Shikamaru asked. "Then she must've gotten the wrong person. There's no way that he would forget her."

For some reason, those words unnerved him more than Shikamaru's eyes. Sasuke wasn't a big fan of Katorabe Ziom especially with past encounters, but after hearing something like that, he had no toleration for the man. Of course, there wasn't anything between them except a past friendship, but he didn't like to think about anything more than that.

"She had the right person. His name was Katorabe Ziom and he had the same crystal necklace that was given to him by Mai. You may want to deny it all you want, but he's alive. And it looks as if he doesn't remember anything about Konoha." It took everything he had not to turn his tone into a full out growl.

"Alright, alright, calm down now." Kakashi stepped in, sensing the palpable tension between the two shinobi. "We need to come up with a way to capture him now. Shikamaru—"

"He invited us to dinner." Sasuke interrupted.

"What?"

Sasuke sighed, "He invited us to dinner at the Shadow Daimyo's palace tonight. If we go, not only can we arrest the Katorabe but Sakura and I can see if our second mission can be completed."

"Can you explain, Sasuke?" Kakashi asked. He knew about their finding Ankoku Inken, but he had no background on the criminal.

Taking in a deep breath, Sasuke began to tell them all about their findings in the Kiri archive building. He told them about the Ankoku clan and how their special chakra was dying. He also explained about the relation of Ankoku Inken to Damnitake Tchakara and how the clan must be related to the land. Sasuke purposely left out the whole battle between Ankoku and what happened to Sakura in their room at the Kiri Inn. It wasn't information that they'd need to know.

"I see..." Kakashi said after taking in this information. "Then we'll use this invitation to our advantage." He looked over at Shikamaru. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I was thinking about using Sasuke's genjutsu prowess. Can you modify a genjutsu that could disguise every one of us so that we're different to each person?" Shikamaru asked.

"It depends on how many people are in the room."

"Then at least make it so that the people we know can't recognize us, except leave Sakura normal for Ziom to recognize her at the dinner. That's the only exception."

"Fine," Sasuke agreed.

* * *

><p>When Sakura woke up from her dreamless sleep, she found herself in an unfamiliar room. It was small and quaint with only a bed, dresser, and a small door that must've been the bathroom. She couldn't see anything and ended up fumbling out of bed. Hitting the floor with a thud, she rubbed her bottom where she hit. Crawling, Sakura made it to a window and threw the curtains open.<p>

Outside, it was on the verge of twilight as the village took on a different aura. The buildings glowed bright orange on one side while the other side was a deep purple. This phenomena was mystifying and captivating at the same time. There was no one on the streets outside which left the scenery undisturbed, yet it gave an ominous feeling as well. With the soft orange glow creeping into the room, Sakura was able to make out more of her accommodations as well as the door on the opposite side of the room.

After getting changed, she exited the room and made her way down the hall. The main lobby wasn't very big but had enough room for a front desk and two couches by a large window which also let in the glow of twilight. There wasn't anyone behind the desk, but she recognized the three bodies sitting on the couches, watching the same scenery change that she had witnessed. Kakashi and Shikamaru sat on one couch while Sasuke kept to himself on the other. She feared that he wasn't behaving too well and went to sit next to him.

No one took notice of her presence off the bat except Sasuke. He turned to see her, and though he didn't smile, she could see a sort of happiness sparkle in his eyes. Sasuke took her hand and squeezed it as if to say welcome back without disturbing the rare silence. She followed their gazes and saw something that she couldn't from her room. The reason why no one was in the streets was because there were several dozen spirits roaming around the village. They seemed to move in a graceful way as they greeted neighbors and visit shops. There were women, children, and men amongst them, each glowing in the same radiance that only Sasuke and Sakura would recognize.

Once she saw their bodies, she realized that these were similar to the chakra projections Inken had shown them. They glowed of various colors like purple, pink, red, blue, green, white, black, and even yellow. The children danced and were mostly yellow while the women were either pink or blue. The men were of various colors. There were a few who were just entirely pitch black and she couldn't tell if they were female or male, but she could determine their age by their body size. They seemed to have no graceful movements whatsoever and seemed more as if they were wandering than anything. Something about them seemed familiar as well as if she'd seen that look of lack of emotion before. Sakura was positive it wasn't from Sasuke because this lack of emotion seemed forced as if someone was controlling them...

She didn't know how long they sat there watching the parade of chakra spirits, but once they all vanished with the dimming sun, she was sure it was a while. The night was starting to wash over the valley. There were no artificial lights lining the streets like in Konoha and because they couldn't see the moon or the stars above them, the valley was starting to become swallowed up in the darkness.

Chills ran up and down her arms as if the winter air had been leaked inside. A dim light turned on inside, causing Sakura to turn around and see a middle aged woman and small boy following behind her. Looking back outside, she saw that all the buildings above had also turned on small lights. They created their own stars and looking in the distance, Sakura could see the Shadow Daimyo's palace because its lights reminded her of the moon.

"You ready to go?" Sasuke asked her.

"Go where?" She asked. Sakura felt as if she was in a daze after witnessing the spectacle outside.

"To the party, remember?" He reminded her.

She nodded and reached up to grab the necklace. It felt weird feeling it around her neck because it reminded her of how she wanted to feel its glow the first time she'd ever seen it. Now, looking at it, the lifeless feeling she got from it only reminded her of how Mai had died just before giving birth.

"What's the plan?" She asked. Sakura knew they were planning something while she was sleeping.

Kakashi looked over towards the woman. Because she was still in the room, he couldn't say anything aloud. "Sado, here," he nodded in Sasuke's direction, "will take care of everything. Kenta," he nodded towards Shikamaru, "and I will be your guard. So don't worry, Sakura-sama."

"Alright then, let's go." She got up but Sasuke put his hand on her arm.

"I think you may want to change first, darling." Sasuke said. He'd never called her darling before, but this must be a clue to his cover.

"Oh, right." She nervously laughed. "I'll be right back."

Sakura went down to her room and saw that a small light had lit up in here too. She made her way to her drawers and saw that her bag wasn't anywhere in the room. Checking the third drawer, she found a kimono made of silk. It was a dark blue with bright white flower petals trailing on the hem. On the back was an unfamiliar crest, but looking closer, she could see that it was made up of two different crests. Her Haruno family crest encircled Sasuke's Uchiha clan crest, though the colors were changed to pink and and black—the opposite of red and white. She gave a slight smile at this and quickly changed into it. Sakura arranged her hair up with the few accessories she could find and made do with the make up as well. Though they were guys, she'd have to give them credit for their tastes.

Once she was changed, Sakura made her way back to her squad. Neither of them were dressed like she was, and though it concerned her, she didn't dare point it out. She gave a nod of her head and took Sasuke's arm as they made their way out of the Inn's lobby and into the darkness of the village. Seeing the village like this, she was once again reminded of where Kagegakure got its name.

Now that they were under the cover of darkness, everyone seemed to relax. Sasuke got close to and pressed something cold against her hand. She felt the familiar presence of a kunai and was relieved that they weren't going in this without any defense. She slid the weapon up her sleeve and positioned it in a way that kept it in place while Sasuke handed her a leather band to keep it there on its own. After securing it, she gave a light squeeze on his arm, telling him it was secured.

She could feel Shikamaru and Kakashi's presence a few paces behind them as if they truly were guards and leaned in towards Sasuke. "What's Kakashi's name?"

"Sakumo." He answered. "Also, we're from the Land of Flowers. You're the daughter of the Flower Daimyo and I'm your fiancee from the Land of Cranes. That's only if anyone asks. If there are more questions beyond that, I will answer them."

She nodded. Apparently while she was asleep, they were busy preparing for this. Sakura felt a bit guilty that she hadn't participated in this scenario. "Wait...what if we meet Tchakara? Won't she recognize us?" She asked as she looked up at Sasuke. Just then, she caught a glimpse of his eyes and saw the crimson glow of his Sharingan. 'So that's how we're doing it.' she thought. "Never mind," she mumbled.

Once they reached the palace, they were stopped by the guards. There were two of them. One was larger than the other with a few scars while the second was much younger with no scars that would most likely signal him as a newcomer. She smiled at them, remaining calm in this situation. On the other hand, Kakashi—Sakumo—and Shikamaru—Kenta—were by hers and Sasuke's side immediately, playing their parts as guards perfectly. She waved them down and they slowly relaxed.

"State your business," the older guard commanded.

She showed him Ziom's necklace and said, "Ziom-sama, had invited us for dinner."

The guard closely examined the crystal and recognized it. There was no mistake that this was Ziom's signature crystal necklace. He parted his weapon and welcomed the guests inside. She gave him a wink in his direction before entering the palace.

It was much more grand that she thought it was going to be. The palace was located on the top of the cliff above the village. Once they were at the top and on the outside balcony, she could barely see the sea of artificial stars below. It was as if she was looking into an abyss. They traveled along the outside of the palace, taking notice of all the possible exits as well as the hand-made statues that lined the roof. Jade columns supported the structure while white marble floors decorated under their feet. The shoji screens were beautifully decorated with scenes from various seasons as well as past victories of the Kagegakure shinobi. They past a few screens that held the Katorabe crest and Sakura could tell that they were new. The ink was still drying and the rooms they led into were completely empty. Somewhere inside her, she could feel her heart drop a few flights of stairs.

The guards led the group into the dining room where there were already people gathered. Sakura looked around and saw that Ziom wasn't there yet and neither was Tchakara. She did recognize Inken, though, as he was talking to someone. He was dressed up in fine clothes like Ziom was earlier and enjoying his time. There was a man dressed in what looked like pure gold already sitting at the head of the table. He was a rather large man with a black beard that collected every piece of food that he dropped. His stomach was about explode from his clothes, but thankfully his obi was secure enough.

"Enjoy, my lady." The guard bowed and exit the room.

Kakashi and Shikamaru weren't allowed to enter this far into the palace, but she knew they wouldn't be too far behind. She remembered seeing them carrying a backpack each which must've held their fine clothing. Once they arrived, she knew she was right and pretended to greet them. They were still under their aliases and easily played along. A few more moments past before the ringing of gongs sounded off from inside the palace. The doors on the other side of the room burst open and parade of guards followed suit while carrying a pagoda. They set it down and pulled the silk curtains aside to reveal both Ziom and Tchakara.

It was odd seeing them together, but Sakura knew that they were once friends. Maybe she was trying to help him regain his memories and for now was simply sheltering him. And maybe she didn't know he was now a wanted criminal, which would explain why she hadn't turned him in earlier.

"Welcome, welcome!" She chimed. Her voice was just as melodic as ever. "Thank you for gathering tonight. I hope you enjoy the engagement party. Without further adieu, let us feast." She had a way with words—very charismatic. Tchakara reached up on her toes and gave Ziom a soft kiss on his lips before giving another pearly white smile.

Sakura wanted to gag at the sound of an engagement party, but when she witnessed Ziom kissing another woman, she wanted to attack him right there. Sasuke could feel her tense and held her arm firmly as if to remind her about their mission. She tried to give him a smile, but everything inside of her was screaming to attack. He escorted her to an empty pair of seats and sat her down. He made sure that she ate something while they were there.

While people were waiting for their next courses to come, conversations filled the room and luckily they were sitting next to Ziom. Sakura turned and got his attention.

"Oh, there you are." She smiled. "You made quite an appearance."

He mimicked her smile with one of his own. This close up, she could see a thin ring of blue around his golden eyes. "I'm glad you could make it. So you saw that, right?"

She nodded. "I'm glad I could be here. So tell me, this engagement party, is it yours?"

"Yes, mine and Tchakara's. You didn't hear?"

"No, we've lost contact for a bit, but I'm happy for you." She had to force the words from her mouth, and she was pretty sure that it didn't sound convincing.

"Are you alright?" Like his old self, Ziom was easy to pick up on distress and other people's emotions.

Sakura nodded, again not feeling quite right. "Of course, why wouldn't I be?" She looked across the table and notice the familiar gleam of Inken's blue eyes. Surely, he didn't recognize her, right? Sasuke was supposed to make sure that no one besides Ziom would recognize her.

Ziom had noticed her staring and followed her line of sight. "Do you know Inken?" He asked her and started to get up. He gave her his hand and being kind, took it.

"Um, he looks familiar." She muttered as they made their way over toward him. There were plenty of people up out of their seats, mingling with one another. "I really don't want to be a bother."

"Nonsense. How can you enjoy a party if you don't mingle?" His sense of humor was showing. This Ziom was so close to the one she used to know it pained her to be next to him.

They had reached Inken while he was in mid-conversation with the person sitting next to him. Inken immediately turned around as if he sensed their presence. His eyes grew wide for a split second and then a sly smile played at his lips. "Well, well, well, who's this?" He asked, getting up from his seat.

"This is Sakura-san," Ziom beat her to her name. She cringed and hoped that Inken didn't recognize her name.

"What a lovely name." He emphasized the word 'lovely' and smiled, giving a light kiss on the back of her hand. "I feel as if we've met. Would you care to dance?"

It wasn't until Inken mentioned something that she took notice of the music. He offered her his hand and Ziom nudged her. She really had no choice but to accept. Sakura cast a glance over a Sasuke whose eyes never left her. She gave a shrug and a pleading look his way, hoping he'd come to her rescue. Inken wasted no time and took a proper dancing stance. They managed to melt into the crowd of other dancers, allowing him to put his lips to her ear.

"What a wonderful aura you have." He hummed. "This taste is just so inviting. Do you mind?"

She got chills down her spine at the words and the memory of blacking out in the forest. "Do I mind what?" Sakura played along, hoping this would keep him off track.

"This," he pressed his lips to hers. He kept a firm grip around her body so she couldn't pull away without revealing her abnormal strength, but she didn't let him get away with it. She bit down on his bottom lip, tasting the blood in her mouth. Inken let out a moan—possibly of pleasure because he was a sadistic creep—and continued to crush her lips. She could feel her chakra leaving her body and the burning rage radiating from Sasuke just a few feet away. When he pulled away, she felt weak at the knees and saw a bright light enter his eyes before they returned to their royal blue. He gave her a wink and leaned in to whisper in her ear once more. "Is the Uchiha looking at us?"

She looked over and was correct in her assumption that Sasuke was radiating rage. He couldn't leave the table, though, because he would cause a scene, definitely. She begged him to stay with her eyes before turning on Inken. He stood there with an arrogant smirk on his face as if he'd outsmarted her. Inken still had her in a tight grip and slowly made his way toward the balcony.

Being outside left her vulnerable to the winter winds that blew this high up on the cliff. Sakura shivered from the exposure but was sure not to let her emotions show. She looked around and saw that they were all alone on the balcony with stars above and below them.

"What do you want?" She asked, her voice full of authority. Because she was away from those people, she was free to return to normal.

"I just wanted to piss off that Uchiha. It was for earlier." He said. Inken brought her in closer, even though there was no need. "Now, what are you doing here?"

She remained silent.

"Oh, on a mission I see. Well, well, what would you like to know? Some family gossip? Or perhaps a few clan secrets?" He cocked an eyebrow. "Whatever it is, I can answer it."

"What about your father? If he finds out that you delved secret clan information, won't he punish you?" She asked, trying to keep him distracted in hopes of him relieving his guard.

"My father is simply the Shadow Daimyo. He has no partake in my clan." Now his tone was becoming sinister.

"Why did you come back then?"

Inken let out a smirk and then sighed. "I couldn't leave my sister defenseless. She barely knows of our heritage since our mother is dead. But you don't really understand that feeling, do you? To protect your flesh and blood?"

She wanted to rip his eyes out. She wanted to lots of things to him, but of course she couldn't. Sakura was still putting up a facade for the people inside and still didn't want to cause a scene—even if it was outside. "Tell me something," she gritted her teeth together. "If you're of the same flesh and blood as she is, then why don't you share the same name?"

He turned his head and spat on the ground beside her. "That damned fool that I once called father should just go and die. In fact, I would rather die than share his name. Fortunately for my precious sister, she doesn't know anything and I'm keeping it that way. Is there anything else you'd like to know?"

The one question she wanted to ask him couldn't be answered by him. Sakura would give anything to know why Ziom killed Mai or left Konoha where his children were or even why he didn't remember a thing. Instead, if he was feeling up to giving out information...

"The Ankoku clan. Tell me everything." She said it in her most demanding and intimidating voice she had. It would be enough to scare Naruto into doing anything for her and could even match Tsunade's authority in the hospital. It was her only hope if she was to get information out of him.

He grinned and loosened his grip, though she still couldn't wriggle her wrists free. "Sure, I'll tell you." He gathered up a large amount of air before speaking, "The Ankoku clan is an ancient family since the foundation of Kagegakure. We were known for taking care of the temples and blessings of the village. We were also known as doctors and medicine men, healing whatever we could. The few of us who could see chakra spirits were called to various temples across many lands, exorcising 'demons' and the like. When we were able to refine our skills, we were able to apply it towards shinobi missions like infiltration and reconnaissance. But then people started to fear our abilities to see other people's chakra and even spirits themselves, so there was a mission to expel us for good. To make a long story short, my mother was the sole survivor and married that goddamn man to save her own life. She taught my sister and myself our clan's most secret arts in order to revive the clan, but she got sick and died. Now it's just me and my sister. We're the only threat left to this village, but being as highly ranked as we are, we can't be disposed of as easily and secretively as our mother. I escaped to save my sister, and I don't trust this marriage whatsoever."

Sakura was captivated by this man. She still saw him as evil, but hearing his story had caught her off guard for sure. As he spoke, though, she could feel herself moving closer and closer to the edge of the balcony. When her back was pressed to the rail separating her from the cliff's edge, she started to feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Sending chakra to her feet, she managed to keep herself from falling over the rail. His grip was still firm and she could feel his strength trying to push her over the edge, but she used that to her advantage and gripped onto his forearms. The strength that he had stolen from her with that kiss was now returning, and she was easily overpowering him.

"Wow, I had no idea you had this kind of strength." He grunted as he continued to struggle with her for power. "Maybe my idea of you and the Uchiha were wrong. Can you answer me one thing?"

Sakura didn't answer him and simply concentrated on pushing him away from her.

"Who's the bitch in the relationship?" His smirk was soon wiped from his face by an incoming punch.

She released him so that he could land unconscious on the marble floor. Sakura was surprised and looked over her shoulder to see Sasuke. His hand was red with Inken's blood from the broken nose he'd delivered. He shook it, scattering the droplets onto the floor, and then rubbed his wrist. She noticed he had hit with his newly repaired hand.

"Who're you calling a bitch, teme?" Sasuke mumbled.

* * *

><p><em>I'm really happy how this chapter turned out. I'm sorry that I had to end on another cliffhanger again, but I didn't know how to end the chapter. Also, forgive the Sasuke OOCness when he called Sakura darling because it was only for appearances, you see. He may love her, but Uchiha Sasuke would never call anyone darling, baby, sweetie, honey, or any other pet name. Oh, and if you wanna know what happened between Sasuke and Ziom as well as Sasuke and Inken, everything will be cleared up soon. So if you were confused as to why Inken mentioned the whole 'bitch' thing, you'll find out. ^^<em>


	17. Nothing has Changed

Chapter 17

Nothing has Changed

Sakura simply stared. Sasuke stood there over Inken's limp form, clenching and re-clenching his fist after the impact. She had fallen down onto her knees when Sasuke punched him because it happened so fast and she wasn't prepared for the attack. He turned around and offered her his hand, but she never had a chance to grab it when Inken recovered and jumped back onto his feet, causing Sasuke to turn back around and step in between her and him.

Blood trickled from Inken's mouth and he wiped it away with the back of his hand. "So, you were that close by, huh?"

"I'll say this one more time," Sasuke clenched his fist and prepared to strike, "Who's the bitch?"

Inken cackled. It was a horrifying, guttural noise as if he was choking on his own blood. "You don't remember our encounter at all, do you?"

Sasuke took a step forward. "What are you talking about?"

"Orochimaru's hideout in the forest in Otogakure about nine years ago. I was his prisoner for three years as he studied my Spirit Chakra." He slicked back the loose strands of hair before speaking again. "Although, I wasn't really a prisoner. I could've left any time I wanted, but you see, there was a certain person whom I wanted to...meet."

"Where are you going with this?" Sasuke demanded.

Sakura looked inside the palace. No one seemed to notice the three of them gathered on the balcony and she couldn't find either Kakashi or Shikamaru. She turned her attention back to the guys and waited for an opportunity to strike.

"I'm saying that you're a flake, a runaway, a bitch being pulled by someone's leash. First it was your brother's, then Orochimaru's, now Konoha's. So answer me this, Sakura-chan, who's the bitch in your relationship?" He repeated the question towards her, but she still kept her mouth shut.

"Urasai, teme!" Sasuke lunged forward to strike.

"Sasuke, stop!" Kakashi's voice came out of no where as he stepped in between him and Inken, protecting the Ankoku. Sasuke's fist stopped a few inches away from Kakashi's face.

"So that answers my second question on how long the leash is." Inken muttered under his breath.

It was clear that the genjutsu had vanished because Kakashi returned to his normal form. The moon loomed overhead and Sakura could tell the one reason why Sasuke stopped and it wasn't because of Kakashi's words. Shikamaru was perched on the roof of the palace and threads of shadows wrapped all over Sasuke's body, gripping him in place.

"What is going on out here?" It was a high, screeching voice that burst through the night. Her hair would've blended in with the background if it wasn't for the moon's appearance, but her coal black eyes could pierce through anything, even darkness. She was dressed in a flowing, deep crimson kimono that seemed to cascade like blood all over her body. It had black trimming with bright white lotus flowers, each stained with a bit of red as if blood splattered over them. Tchakara looked dangerous since the last time Sakura had seen her.

She must've been on a higher level because there was clicking coming from a distance as she descended towards them. There was a fierceness in Tchakara's stare as she stood before them, a panther about to strike.

"Darling little sister," Inken spread his arms open for his sister, but she crossed her own. "Why, we were just having a little discussion. There's no need to interfere, you see."

"Cut the crap, Inken," she nearly spat his name. If that's how she treated family, Sakura was afraid for Ziom. "How dare you bring this drama to my rehearsal party."

"Rehearsal party...?" Sakura muttered. Luckily, no one heard her...or at least felt the need to pay attention to what she said.

"I want you all to leave. Konohagakure is never welcomed back to Kagegakure."

"Now, now, now, sister," Inken paused, "I don't think you need to be that harsh. I mean, we were just horsing around."

"You too, dear nii-san, I don't need you around." She turned her back to him.

"Now wait just a moment, nee-chan," his voice took on an icier edge as he stood his ground, "don't forget who you're talking to." He took a step forward past Sasuke's still frozen state.

Her face remained impassive, unloving toward her sibling. "Father has no idea where you've been these past years, but I do. You're a criminal and this family doesn't associate with criminals."

"You don't know anything about this family!" He snarled.

Clouds passed overhead, causing Shikamaru's grip on Sasuke to release, allowing the Uchiha free reign of his body once again. Sakura was worried about what he'd do, so she pressed her hand against his chest, using her chakra enhanced strength to keep him at bay. He simply looked at her, surprised she had this much strength, and refrained from getting into a brawl at this moment. Clearly, this wasn't the time to finish their spat.

Doors to the palace burst open, allowing the music and chatter to escape the dinning room. Ziom stood a mix the fray, perplexed at what was happening. He looked from Inken to Tchakara and finally resting on Sakura, Sasuke and the others concealed themselves to the newfound darkness. He took a step forward and stood between the siblings.

"Eto...dear?" Taking his eyes off Inken, Ziom turned his attention to his fiancee. "Your father was looking for you. He was mumbling something about the guest list."

Tchakara was definitely trained in deceit because her attitude changed very quickly. She went from frightful to charming faster than you could blink. Obviously, the woman Sakura met in Konoha was different than the one she met tonight. "Alright, I'll handle him." She sighed, cast another glare at her brother, and went inside.

Inken regained his composure and turned around to give a wink at Sakura, knowing full well that Sasuke wasn't going to do anything. After that, he followed his beloved sister into the palace. Now it was just Sakura and Ziom left out in the open while the rest were still hiding in the shadows. Ziom walked up to the railing and looked out toward the other end of the cliff. He gave a sigh and shook his head before facing Sakura. He tried giving her a smile, but she could tell it was forced. Judging by this expression, she was wondering how much of the previous conversation he heard.

She walked up to join him, placing her hands on the railing as well. Sakura knew full well that her team was watching their every move. She was worried that they'd take this time to arrest him, so before they could do that, she took advantage of this "alone" time with him.

"Can I ask you something?" She questioned.

"Of course," he complied.

Sakura pulled off the lifeless gem that still hung around her neck and gave it back to him. "Do you remember who gave you this?"

Ziom had a puzzled look on his face as he examined it. He held it up to the moonlight and it only reflected clear light. Sakura remembered the golden glow it used to have and missed it. Instead of it being a reminder to life, it only reminded her of Mai's passing.

"I can't say..." he muttered aloud. "Was it you?"

She bit her lip and clenched her fists. Her instincts were right. He didn't remember a thing about her, Konoha, or Mai. "No," she shook her head and looked down in fear that he'd see her shed emotion. "Do you remember...Mai-chan?"

At the sound of her name, Ziom's whole body tensed up. Sakura's head immediately snapped up and looked into his eyes. That blue rim had expanded and now took up his entire iris—she could even see the roots of his hair start to turn blue as well. The more intense the emotion the more it spread throughout his body, eyes then hair. He may not consciously remember what happened but it was clear that his body could respond.

"Mai...chan...?" He gripped the side of his head and nearly dropped the necklace.

Sakura could see how he was reacting and acted upon it. She gripped his hand that was still clenching onto the necklace and looked up into his face. "Yes, Sintessa Mai. Please, Ziom-kun, remember. I know you can do it!" She encouraged him.

The pain on his face got worse the more she said Mai's name. In order to make sure he didn't lose the necklace, she hung it around his neck. Tears started to fall from his eyes as his body shook violently. Sakura thought she was making progress, but when he opened his eyes, she knew it was anything but progress. His eyes were pitch black. The same darkness clouded his vision like the day he took Mai's life. It took everything she had to prevent a scream from leaving her lips. His knuckles grew bone white as he gripped tighter on the railing, preventing him from lashing out.

Sasuke was by her side faster than she could've blinked. He pushed her behind him as Ziom tossed his hand back to strike. Something was triggering this and Sakura's first reaction was to look around. On the upper balcony, she spotted the bright crimson of Tchakara's kimono. The heiress was mouthing something and the hairs on the back of Sakura's neck stood up. She darted from Sasuke's side and climbed the steps up to the upper balcony, pulling the kunai from her sleeve.

She could hear Kakashi's voice in the distance as well as Shikamaru's, but because Sasuke was also a threat in this attack, they didn't know who would be worse. She guessed that they decided to stop the Uchiha while she kept on with her attack. Sakura threw the kunai, just missing her target but distracting her from Ziom nonetheless. She gathered as much chakra as she could in her fist and prepared to strike. Her fist was centimeters away from Tchakara's face when she was stopped in mid motion.

Because of the newly revealed moonlight, Shikamaru had captured her shadow while Kakashi held Sasuke in a death grip. Tchakara's eyes were full of fear but it slowly vanished as a wicked grin gathered on her face. She straightened herself out and touched Sakura's cheek.

"Sakura...huh?" She smiled and pressed her long red finger against Sakura's cheek, allowing blood to trickle down her face. "So, why are Konoha-nin here anyway?"

"We've come to arrest Katorabe Ziom on charges of murder and fleeing Konohagakure." Kakashi spoke as he continued to hold the Uchiha down.

"Oh, really?" Tchakara raised an eyebrow. She leaned in toward Sakura and whispered, "Oniton: Akuma no Akumu."

Sakura felt very tired all of a sudden. She looked back over to her teammates and saw that they, too, were fighting the exhaustion. The last thing she could remember before passing out was Ziom's crumpled body on the marble balcony, he was nothing but a pile of vibrant kimonos and bluish-blackish hair that scattered like silk around him.

Sasuke saw Sakura tense and start to fall. He went to grab her falling body when his own felt frozen in place. Tchakara seemed to glide from Sakura to him by the time it took the kunoichi to hit the ground. He felt weighted down from the inside and helpless to do anything. Looking over, he saw that both Kakashi and Shikamaru fell down exactly as Sakura did. He felt a disturbance in the natural chakra flow, a sign of genjutsu. It must've been strong for it to take down Kakashi, Shikamaru, and Sakura considering none of them were that susceptible to genjutsu before.

Tchakara stopped in front of him and grabbed his face in her hand, pinching his face forward. Her nails were sharp and he could feel them digging into his skin. She turned his head back and forth to get a good look at him and simply clicked her tongue.

"I can understand why you don't get along with anybody." She told him, keeping her voice down. He didn't respond. "You're too self-centered. You know, vanity is considered a sin around here."

Sasuke snorted at that. "Vanity? Me?" Shaking his head, he continued. "Possibly at one point..." Memories of the war flashed back inside his head.

"There are still traces, you know. I can see into your soul, I know exactly what kind of person you truly are." She leaned in closer to him so that he could feel the hotness of her breath bounce off his skin. "Oniton: Hikori Zetsubo."

The hairs on the back of his neck stood up and the chilling sensation spread throughout his entire body. He was expecting a genjutsu like she had placed on the others, but this was different. It was something unnatural. There was a sense of nothingness filling his body as every muscle locked together and he found himself falling. The last thing he saw was Tchakara standing over him, a hunger in her eyes.

* * *

><p>The next time he opened his eyes, Sasuke was welcomed to a bright light. The room he was in was large and white. He laid in a single cot and was hooked up to a standard hospital I.V. Being a shinobi, Sasuke knew the contents of a hospital like a second home. Instincts kicked in, though, and he sat up too fast in bed. His I.V had ripped out of his arm, causing him to mutter some foul curses under his breath before planting his feet on the ground. He was about to get up when he felt strong hands pull him back down.<p>

Sakura was very good at her job. She took a patient's health seriously and if it was for their own good, she'd never leave their side. Sasuke hadn't noticed that he was completely alone in the room. Looking towards the corner, he could see a chair pulled up to the other side of his bed and a blanket tossed to the side. Her pink hair was all disheveled from a restless night's sleep and she was looking unusually pale.

"And where do you think you're going?" She asked him, hands on her hips and glaring at him.

"I...don't know." He blinked. Sasuke hadn't really thought about what he was going to do if he left the room. All he knew was that he didn't belong there. "Where are we?"

"A hospital." She answered very simply. Sakura knew that he didn't mean that, especially after he gave her a certain 'Oh really' look. "We're back in Konohagakure."

Looking around the room, he knew it was too familiar. He sighed. "What happened? With the mission, I mean."

Her gaze dropped from his and she quickly grasped her one arm nervously. Sasuke knew this behavior and knew what was coming before she even said it. "We failed the mission."

"What happened?" Now he wanted details.

"I don't know." She mumbled. "The last thing I remember is seeing Ziom unconscious on the balcony and Tchakara fading from my vision."

Sasuke fixed himself into a sitting possession and motioned for Sakura to sit next to her. She complied and sat carefully next to him, making sure not to pull out his I.V. He didn't care about that anymore and took her in his arms. She placed her head in the crook of his neck, allowing him to rest his head on hers. The smell of jasmine was strong that it was almost causing him to tear up.

"It's fine," he assured her in an unusual soothing voice. "We'll get them, I promise."

She looked at him then and shook her head. "I don't think that'll be possible. You see, both Ziom-kun and Inken are protected by Kagegakure...by the Shadow Daimyo."

Sasuke cursed inwardly. If only they'd done something that night...

"It's okay, though," she gave a small smile. He simply looked at her and waited for her to continue. "I mean, don't get me wrong. I want justice for Mai's murder and I want to beat the hell out of Tchakara, but Ziom-kun was still my friend."

He grunted, still not liking the man.

"Is it wrong to be happy that he's still alive?" She had ignored his noise and continued.

Sighing, Sasuke had to answer truthfully even if he wasn't going to like the next few words he was about to say. "I don't blame you for being happy. He was your friend first after all..."

She looked up at him with her big round eyes. Those emerald irises always held his attention and would never cease to make his heart pound. Those eyes of hers never swayed from her true emotions, birthing jealousy that he couldn't be like her in that way. She slowly pressed her lips to his and carefully pulled away, leaving the faint taste of cherries on his mouth.

"How're you feeling?" Sakura asked as she got up from the bed.

"Fine, so can you unhook me from this damned thing?" He held out his arm that was attached to his I.V.

"Hmm," she put her finger to her lips and teased him, taking her sweet time before answering.

Sakura walked around to the other side of his bed. It wasn't until she did this that Sasuke noticed what she was wearing. She had on her nurse's outfit that cut a little shorter than usual and long white stockings that clung to long and shapely legs. The top two buttons were undone and revealed the creamy texture of her skin, including the suppleness of her chest. He cocked an eyebrow at her attire and couldn't help but to watch her sway from side to side. If Sasuke thought the sight of her eyes made his pulse beat loud, then seeing her like this was as if she was putting him in cardiac arrest.

Sakura bent over to pull out his I.V, revealing more of herself to him. This was either a dream or a fantasy made reality. There was just one thing he needed to test to make sure his assumptions were true. As soon as his I.V was gone and she had come back around to his bedside, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her down into his lap. It was clear she was a bit startled, but there was no resistance.

"Sasuke, what are you—?"

Pressing his lips to hers, he silenced anything she was about to say. Keeping their lips locked, Sasuke was able to push her back down the bed and carefully press her down to the bed. Now on top, he had a clear advantage of her. He started to kiss her neck as she grabbed fistfuls of his hair and started to unbutton her skimpy uniform. His hands went to work on her bra as she straddled his hips with her legs and pulling him closer to her body, enjoying the ecstasy of each touch.

"What's gotten in to you?" She panted.

He pulled back a few inches in order to speak and gazed down into the emeralds of her eyes. Containing his smirk, he replied, "You have some gall wearing something like that."

She knew what he meant and blushed before a smirk crept on her face. Sakura pulled him back down and crushed his lips, making sure not to disrupt this moment.

"Sakura-senpai! Hokage-sama wanted y—"

The door had flung open and everyone froze. Yuki was standing there, dressed in the actual Konoha Hospital nurse's uniform, with a dropped jaw while the two lovers didn't dare see her. All of their kissing and touching had ceased and slowly they both looked toward the Ojaku. Luckily Sakura still had her bra on, but she was still showing way too much skin. And after the shock wore off, they quickly scrambled from each other. Sasuke sat back and Sakura sat up, fixing herself to be more presentable.

"Uh, maybe I should come back..." Yuki started to turn around and leave.

"Yes," Sasuke nodded.

"No!" Sakura called out to her, stopping her apprentice. "I mean, it's fine. Why're you here, Yuki-chan?"

"Um, well, Hokage-sama wanted me to come get you. She said it was important." She told them.

Sakura sighed. "Alright, I'll be right there."

Once Yuki left, Sakura got off the bed and went over to her bag. There, she had a change of clothes stashed away. She turned around and saw Sasuke with his eyes closed and arms crossed over his chest. Rolling her eyes, Sakura went over to sit on his bed.

"I'll be right back." She whispered to him. He grabbed her wrist. "What?"

"You don't have to go right away," Sasuke started to pull her back in. It took a lot of strength for her to push him away.

"I'll be right back." She insisted and got up to change in his bathroom.

Once she changed back to proper clothes, Sakura noticed that Sasuke had laid back down and pulled the covers over his head. She walked over to the window to close it and then looked back over to his bed. Something didn't feel right. She pulled back his blanket and it wasn't a surprise to see that he wasn't laying there. He couldn't have gotten far.

Sakura put finding Sasuke aside as she had to see Tsunade first. They had only been back in the village for two days now and this was the first the Hokage had called for her. Most likely it was because they didn't file a report, but that would be strange considering it was Kakashi's job to do that. She hurried as fast as she could, barging past the usual shinobi in the mansion. It felt strange to walk inside the building without Shizune's shrill voice following closely behind her, but maybe she was getting too used to that situation.

Tsunade was working behind her desk and barely noticed Sakura's entrance until she cleared her throat. The Hokage had put her papers aside and motioned for her student to approach her desk. Carefully, she followed her master's orders and waited for her to speak.

"You wished to see me?" Sakura asked.

"Yes," she got up and walked over to her window, turning her back on the pink haired kunoichi, "it concerns the twins."

Working at a hospital, Sakura sees many patients. She's seen many twins come in and out of that building—which meant Tsunade could be talking about any twins. But she knew who she was talking about.

"What about them?" Her heart began to sink in her chest. It wasn't going to be good news.

"I've found them a suitable place for a home." Tsunade turned around then, scanning Sakura for her emotions.

Knowing this, she made sure not to show much except for happiness. In a way, she was very happy that the twins would have a home, though she was hoping that it would be with her. Sakura didn't have much time with them after all.

Mustering a smile to her face she asked, "Who?"

"It's fine. They're already there."

"What? I didn't even get to say goodbye!" Her emotions were bubbling out. It was one thing giving them a proper home, but Sakura wanted a proper goodbye first.

"It's not like you won't see them. In fact, you can see them right now."

She clenched her fists. "How can I if you won't even tell me who they went to?"

"Perhaps talking to Kurenai would settle your feelings. After all, she was the one who dropped them off." Tsunade walked back to her desk and continued whatever paperwork she had left. It was the curse of the Hokage.

Sakura had enough of this. She stormed out of the office and into the village, not knowing where to go. So instead of going to Kurenai's, she headed for the training grounds and hoped to find an answer there waiting for her.

It was gorgeous outside, especially since it was still considered winter. There were a few clouds passing overhead and a slight breeze had followed, but otherwise, the temperature was that of spring. Birds chirped and flew about in a dizzy and there were a few flowers budding. Sakura took her time searching the grounds. It was a way to clear her head and come to terms that nothing seemed real anymore. She had walked right into an open meadow without realizing it and looked around. A sign with the number seven was hanging loosely on a tree and just a few feet away was Sasuke.

The ground around him was torn and scorched. A few branches on nearby trees looked mangled from an intense power. He sat on the ground with his knees to his chest and his arms securely wrapped around his body. Sakura couldn't tell why he was sitting there or what was going on, so she started to make her way over toward him. He didn't even flinch to the sound of her feet nor to the touch of her when she wrapped her arms around him. Instead, he simply shook his shoulders and she changed positions to sit in front of him.

His eyes were distant as if in thought. She waved her hand in front of his face and there was no reaction. "Sasuke?" She called his name.

Finally he blinked and stared at her. "Sakura...what are you doing here?"

"More importantly, what happened here?" She asked, looking around the war zone.

"I needed to blow off some steam." He simply answered.

She gave a breathy laugh. "It looks like you did more than that." Sakura looked at him and there was still no reaction—no emotion. She brushed a few strands of hair from his face. "Are you alright?"

He waited a few seconds before shaking his head. "Do you...Do you feel like you're empty?"

"Empty?" She blinked. "What do you mean?"

"I mean...I feel as if I have no purpose. What do I do now?" He looked at her with his onyx eyes, piercing straight through her.

"I still don't understand." She shook her head and grabbed both of his hands with hers, locking eyes with his. "What do you mean you have no purpose? Do you really need a purpose to live?"

He simply stared at her with questioning eyes. "Do you have a purpose?"

She nodded. "You're my purpose. As long as you're by my side, I feel safe and strong. I feel as if I have something to keep living for."

Sasuke didn't say anything and instead pulled her toward him. He grabbed the back of her neck and held her there before moving his other hand to her waist. Sasuke opened his legs and pulled her in, pressing her chest against his. She wrapped her arms around his neck while they continued where they left off in the hospital room. Sasuke pushed her gently down to the ground, allowing him the advantage and ability to look at her. Sakura's pink hair was spewed about around her as she had a hunger in her eyes that matched the feeling deep inside him. Nothing could compare to how he felt when alone with her. This overwhelming sense of security and heat raged inside him. It was something he had grown used to feeling and now it was an addiction. Seeing Sakura beg for him and calling out his name was the worse drug anyone could give him.

* * *

><p>There was a knock at her door. When she answered it, she had been expecting someone else to be there, but instead it was only the usual person. Kurenai was always happy to see Shikamaru come over. She knew he was keeping a promise to Asuma by watching over Asaka, but today was different. It was the first day she officially had them. She welcomed him in and led him to their room.<p>

It wasn't long ago that she had put them down for a nap, but seeing as they held a special meaning to him, she didn't mind if he woke them. Shikamaru held Suzu carefully in his arms. The pose looked natural and Kurenai couldn't help but imagine when it would be his turn to have one of his own. For now, though she was happy just seeing him happy.

"So I hear you got custody of them, is it true?" He asked, keeping his voice down not to wake Ria.

Kurenai nodded. "I feel really lucky." She looked over towards Ria's crib. His white hair was a bit unusual to her, but she liked the quality about them. Both the twins had the same snow white hair that gave them look of something exotic and special.

Asaka came bouncing in then. She was always happy to see Shikamaru, looking up to him like an older brother. In a few days, she would be starting at the academy which was just a step closer to becoming a kunoichi. Everyone knew that Shikamaru was going to be her sensei, seeing as it was only right, and Kurenai couldn't wait for that. It was going to be strange seeing Asuma's student teaching his child.

"Shika-nii!" Asaka cried. She wrapped her arms around his legs.

"Asaka-chan, you've gotten so big." He smiled at her and put Suzu down in the crib. Shikamaru crouched down and ruffled up the little girl's hair.

She pouted and brushed her hair with her fingers, fixing the mess he'd cause. "Hey! You messed up my hair."

Kurenai laughed. Her house was so lively now. Knowing that the twins were in her care made her happy. Now, Asaka would have siblings and would no longer be alone—though she had Shikamaru and her mother.

"So, I heard that you had a visitor at your apartment all week." Kurenai hid her smirk.

"How did you—?" He looked surprised.

She released her smile. "You know how fast word gets around here. Is she nice?"

Shikamaru blushed and shrugged. "Not really. She can be a bit troublesome most of the time."

"But...?"

Sighing, he caved in. "But I guess...I really like her..."

"I'm glad." It was true. Kurenai had come to think of the Nara as one of her children since all of his visits. It made her happy knowing he was happy. "Oh, that reminds me. Did you hear about Kiba and Shino?" She asked him. She knew he wasn't that close with her students, but like she said before, word gets around fast.

He nodded. "Yeah, Kiba tried to kill him the other day."

She nodded as well. "Well, yes, but did you hear who he's with of all people?"

"Not really. That wasn't the topic at the market."

"Do you know that red head nurse at the hospital? Sakura's old apprentice?" She asked and he nodded. "Well, apparently that's who he's going out with! And Shino, I know you know who he's with right?"

He took a seat in the rocker in the middle of the room. "Of course, that's the whole reason why Kiba tried to kill him. He's dating Kiba's older sister."

"Isn't it romantic?" She cooed and ruffled Asaka's hair.

"Your idea of romance, kaa-san, is really weird." She said and went over to Shikamaru and sat on his lap. "Right, Shika-nii?"

He smirked. "Right..."

"Well, you better watch out then, Shikamaru," she winked, "or else you'll be dealing with the Kazekage."

Shikamaru paled and gulped, causing Asaka to cock an eyebrow. "What is it, Shika-nii?"

"...Nothing..."


	18. Life Altering

Chapter 18

Life Altering

8 months later...

"You're what?" They all shouted.

Hinata stood up to deliver her news. Ever since Tenten got pregnant, she wasn't allowed to go on missions and so Ino had come up with a great idea about a weekly get-together. This week all the kunoichis met up at the Yamanaka's new apartment. It was just a few homes down from her family's flower shop, which was convenient for her. The people that showed up today were Sakura, Yuki, Tenten—who was nine months pregnant—Hinata, and of course their hostess, Ino.

Hinata nodded. "It's true. Tsunade-sama did the tests herself." The Hyuuga was almost as giddy as a schoolgirl. Although, who wouldn't be if they were in this situation?

"Did you tell Naruto yet?" Sakura asked. She imagined he'd be the first person to know.

"Um, not exactly." She pressed her two index fingers together. "You see, I was going to tell him last night but it didn't go well."

"What happen?" Ino asked.

Hinata looked around nervously and blushed. "Well, eto...He came home from an exhausting mission and I knew he looked tired. I made him some of his favorite ramen and when I went to give it to him, he'd passed out right there on the couch. I didn't have the heart to wake him and then this morning he'd already left with Sasuke-kun and Sai-kun on another mission."

"It's okay, I'm sure you'll be able to tell him." Yuki pat Hinata's arm.

"Yeah, cheer up." Tenten added.

"Thank you," she smiled and sat back down, taking a sip of coffee. "So, Tenten-chan, when are you due?"

Tenten rubbed her belly and gave a soft smile. "Any day now. Oh, I almost forgot," she held out her left hand and something sparkled on her ring finger. Everyone gasped and awed as they looked at the silver band. It wasn't a diamond or anything that special, but it was Neji. He was always a simple guy. She blushed red as everyone caught a glimpse.

"He proposed?" Ino nearly shrieked. She lived for these kinds of things. "When? How? Give me all the details."

Tenten gave a nervous laugh. Now it was her turn to be put on the spot after Hinata averred her news. "Well, it was a few nights ago when the moon was full. I usually walked the Hyuuga compound around that time but this time he accompanied me. We talked for a bit, mostly about baby stuff, and when I thought the night couldn't be lovelier he got down on one knee. I thought I was in a dream or I was going to pass out." She put her hands up to her cheeks to hide the enormous blush on her face.

"How sweet," Sakura sighed.

"You know, though, this wasn't the first time he proposed to me." She admitted.

Everyone's eyes nearly came out of the their sockets. "What?" They said in unison.

She nodded, "Yeah, about a month after I told him I was pregnant, he asked me."

"Why didn't you accept?" Hinata asked. She too had a blush on her face. "I mean, you loved him then didn't you?"

"Of course I loved him then and now. But it didn't feel as though he was doing it out of love. I felt as though it was because of the baby." She placed her hands back down on her stomach to feel the baby kicking inside. "I didn't want him to do it out of duty or 'my honor'." She quoted him. "This time, though, I know he means it. After the baby's born, that's when we're going to worry about plans."

Ino squealed. "Oh, I'm so happy for you! It almost makes my news that much unimportant."

"You had some news?" Sakura asked. It seemed like everyone was sharing today.

She nodded. "Sai and I are moving in together." She clapped her hands together and blushed. Yes, Yamanaka Ino blushed.

"But you just bought this place." Hinata commented.

"Don't tell me..." Tenten trailed off.

"Uh-huh," she nodded, "We're taking the next step in our relationship. I guess that only leaves you, Yuki-chan."

Slowly, the younger girl started to shake her head, "Actually...Kiba-kun and I are moving in together."

"Shut up!" Ino punched her in the arm.

"Well, I mean, he kinda had to. He hadn't been making payments on his apartment lately and his mother wouldn't take him back, so I agreed for him to move in with me. Do you think it was the right move?" She asked.

Sakura had grown fondly of the woman, especially since she was her old apprentice and all, and so she had to be honest with her. "Just be honest with yourself. We can't make any decisions for you."

Yuki acknowledged the advice with a nod. "So, Sakura-senpai, do you have anything to share with us?"

Sakura shook her head when, in fact, she did. But she didn't want to take away from everyone else. There would always be next week to tell them.

The rest of breakfast went like normal where they discussed latest missions and other gossip around the village. One of the biggest topics was of Shikamaru. He recently was given the title of Ambassador to Sunagakure and of course Sakura mentioned the time she encountered Temari at his apartment...half naked. It wasn't a surprise to Ino, though, as she simply commented that she'd always had a sixth sense about these things. Another topic was of Kiba and Shino's relationship. They had been teammates for years and about eight months ago, Kiba discovered that Shino had been seeing his older sister. Of course there was a huge fight between them that Hinata had to intervene in, but they hadn't spoken to each other since. It worried the Hyuuga that they would no longer cooperate, especially since they hadn't been on a mission with each other since.

Sakura didn't try to worry herself, though. She knew that because they were nakama they would reconcile their feelings sooner than later. As her mind wandered, she couldn't help but to think back to Tenten. She had a baby on the way and was getting married. Hinata also came to mind, and seeing her happy face made Sakura happy. Was she ever going to be that happy? Sakura placed her hands on her stomach and sighed.

She had taken a turn down an uncrowded street. Anyone would be able to tell it had been deserted for a while, considering the lack of care that was there surrounding the buildings. She passed a closed shop that seemed like that for at least a decade and saw the familiar crest in the window. Sakura had walked right down into the old Uchiha district. No one was allowed to come here anymore, seeing as it was condemned, but she knew she hadn't made a wrong turn. So Sakura continued down the district until she reached an old mansion.

This house wasn't like the others. It had recent work done to it, seeing as there was no more tape across the front or graffiti. She walked inside its complex. The garden was still dead, no flowers bloomed and most of the trees were still scorched. Walking along the outside, though, she noticed the new floor boards and how clean they were. The shoji screens were being repaired and repainted. Sakura couldn't help but to run her fingers over the pictures. There were fans and circles all over as well as small nature scenes. She smiled.

A few months ago, Tsunade offered this home to her and Sasuke for a very cheap price—considering that he wouldn't take it out of charity. They bought it, of course, and ever since he'd been here repairing it. Apparently, this had been his childhood home. Sakura could imagine a little Sasuke running about and bothering his mother as she prepared his lunch on a warm summer day. She sat down and looked over at the dying tree. She imagined it was once beautiful and bloomed during the spring, showering the yard with its petals and possibly fruit. Sakura could also imagine a small koi pond right under it with bright colorful fish circling inside it. Perhaps, the garden was going to be her project.

"Sakura?"

She turned around and saw him standing there with no shirt on. He was drenched in sweat with a hammer in his one hand while the other wiped sweat from his forehead. Sasuke had returned to his former attractiveness—though he really never lost it—thanks to his extensive training regiment and mission intake. She was always speechless whenever she saw him like this.

"Sakura, what are you doing here?" He asked, seeing that she wasn't responding.

Snapping out of it, she replied, "I was just clearing my head." She smiled at him. "This place is really looking wonderful."

Sasuke took a seat next to her and basked in the sunlight. It was late summer, so rebuilding a house wasn't the best idea in this heat. He looked exhausted.

"Wait, didn't you leave for a mission earlier today?" She asked. Sakura remembered seeing him off and Hinata mentioning it at breakfast.

He nodded, "Yeah, I left, but the dobe managed to get a concussion by hitting his head on a tree and falling about a few feet to the ground. He's at the hospital now."

She rubbed her forehead and let out a sigh. It seemed like that would happen to Naruto. "Is it bad? Should I head over and check up on him?" Sakura was about to get up when Sasuke grabbed her wrist and pulled her back down.

"No," he told her, "it's not bad. Besides, should you be walking around so much in your condition?" He cocked an eyebrow at her.

Sakura had to control her laugh. "Fine, I won't go. And my condition?" She also cocked an eyebrow. "Sasuke, I'm pregnant...not dying of flesh eating parasites."

He shrugged. "So, did you tell them today?"

She shook her head. "They were all excited to say their stuff. I didn't want to take anything away. I'll just wait until next week."

He sighed and slung an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to him. Though the sweat made him look sexy, it didn't feel sexy. A very moist man wasn't appealing and so Sakura gave a slight shove to pull him off her. He simply looked at her questioningly.

"Um, I think you need a shower." She said, making a disgusted face—teasing him of course.

Sasuke took notice of his appearance and...smell, nodding in agreement. "Right, I just have to do something first."

"What are you working on?" She asked.

"A room," he was hiding something and this peaked Sakura's interest.

She gave a soft smile. "Which room~?"

He leaned in towards her ear and whispered, "It's a surprise."

The simple sentence sent chills down her spine and made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She gave a light shudder. "Oh," suddenly, she was breathless. He had a knack for that. She tried to change the subject, "So I didn't know you could paint."

Sasuke was in the middle of getting up when he stopped midway, looked at her, and sat back down. "Painting?"

"The screens," she pointed to the closest one. "if you didn't paint them, who...?"

"Sai was over earlier. He wouldn't stop following me and came here. Apparently, he read in a book that a home should show the owner's personality, and offered to paint the screens." He explained.

She slowly nodded, "That would explain why the pictures were so familiar." She trailed off. "So...what can I do to help?"

He got up onto his feet and brushed off the dirt from his pants. Offering her a hand, he helped her up while catching a glance at the dead garden. "Sure," he nodded towards the garden's direction. "I don't have a green thumb, as you can see. Do you mind?"

The vision of a vivacious garden with its excellent greens, pinks, and blues along with any other color she could find. The koi pond circled her thoughts as it laid under a blooming cherry blossom tree. In her mind, she could already see the petals cascading down and scattering along the walkway leading from room to room. The smells of early spring, late summer, and early fall filled her senses all at once as she pictured herself spending time underneath the stars and moon. It was a dazzling image.

"Alright, I think I can manage that." She gave him a wink.

"Sakura-senpai! Sakura-senpai!"

Both Sasuke and Sakura turned around at the familiar voice. No one came to the old Uchiha compound so when they heard someone else approaching, the both of them were a bit wary. Of course, they really didn't need to worry. Just hearing another's voice around the area was a bit surprising.

"Sakura-senpai!" Yuki came into view. She was breathing hard and a strange look took place on her face.

"Yuki?" Sakura got up and stared at the red head. "What are you doing here?" She asked as soon as the woman was in hearing distance.

Once Yuki stopped before them, she bent down and was breathing hard. Clearly, she had been running for a while. She had to catch her breath, but the news she held was so great she started to talk between breaths, "Sakura-senpai...you have to...get down...to the hospital...Tenten is...having her baby...!"

"What? Really?" Sakura was immediately filled with joy. The day had arrived and of course it had to be on the day she had off. "Alright, I'll be right there." She turned to Sasuke and he gave her a nod. Giving him a kiss on the cheek, she and Yuki turned around and headed to the hospital.

* * *

><p>Hinata had passed Sai on the street and after hearing about Naruto's "accident" she made her way to the hospital. She was relieved to find that he wasn't badly hurt. His biggest injury was the cut by his hairline where he hit his head. He needed about ten stitches to close the gap and of course his hair was already stained with blood. After he was taken care of, he was admitted into the hospital for the night just to be sure he didn't have a concussion.<p>

She sat on the edge of his bed and watched him sleep. When she had arrived, he was already asleep and she didn't have the heart to wake him. So for now, she simply watched him. He was always entertaining to watch whether awake or not, but either way, she enjoyed his presence. His breathing was soothing to her as they were in a private room, the only sounds coming from him and the chirping birds outside. His hair had shifted with the incoming breeze and she brushed a strand away from his face. He smiled at her touch.

"I'm glad you're safe," she told him. Hinata leaned in and gave him a kiss on his forehead, gently on his bandage. Every fiber of her being wanted to tell him, but he was unconscious. There was no way he was going to remember this.

But maybe that was a good thing. Maybe she could practice telling him while he was like this. Maybe it would alleviate some pressure and nervousness she had.

"Naruto," Hinata began, "I love you, you know that?" Smiling to herself, she added a smile. Of course he knew that. She always told him how much she did. "You love me too, right?" Again, there was no need to answer that. Hinata knew that, even though he didn't say it much, he loved her. She could see it in his eyes and actions. "Well, I hope..." she trailed off because he started to stir.

His eyes slowly opened, and once he was able to tell that it was her he smiled. Naruto let a huge yawn escape and looked around, realizing where he was. He pressed his hand to his forehead and grimaced when he felt the pain from the touch. Hinata gave him a smile and he reciprocated with a wider more toothy grin of his own. She helped him sit up in bed.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

He nodded and scratched the back of his head. "Uh, yeah...I'm guessing someone told you what happened, huh?" The blush was already creeping on his face.

She gave him an I'm-so-sorry kind of look and then laughed. He looked a bit confused when she laughed. Once the feeling left her system, she tried to calm herself down and shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't help it. How can the greatest ninja in the entire village succumb to something like a tree branch?" Once she said it aloud, she had to refrain from laughing at him again.

He gave a little pout before pulling her in close to him. She hiked her feet off the floor and curled up beside him, careful not to pull on his I.V. He wrapped his arms around her and started to pat her long black hair. Whenever he did this Hinata knew he was thinking of something. It was starting to turn into a habit lately and it was scaring her a bit.

"What's wrong?" She asked, trying to look up at him.

He shook his head and gave her another toothy grin. "Nothing," looking at her non-believing face, he rephrased the statement, "I mean, maybe it's something." He shrugged and sighed. "Why...Why doesn't your father like me?"

"M-My father?" She was taken aback. This was definitely a surprising question. "Well, um, I don't know. I never noticed that he didn't like you. I mean, what's not to like?" She buried her face in the crook of his neck. "You're funny, sweet, kind, and handsome. I certainly like you. Shouldn't that be enough?"

He shrugged again. "I guess, but I just don't feel right. I feel as though I don't have permission to be with you."

"You're also a gentleman," she added. "I gave you permission to be with me. Isn't that enough?"

Naruto was quick to reply, not wanting her to burst into tears or storm off, "O-Of course it is. I just," he sighed, "I never had parents growing up, but I know that if they were still around, I would want them to like you. And I'm sure they would, but your father doesn't like me."

Hinata gave him a kiss on the lips before saying, "Then maybe we should have a discussion with him. We'll get his permission together."

He smiled at that and gave her a squeeze around the midsection. Instinctively, Hinata pushed him away, not wanting to hurt her. Naruto noticed this and cocked an eyebrow, curious as to why Hinata did what she just did. "Is there something wrong?" He asked.

She quickly shook her head. "Uh, no, nothing's wrong."

He wasn't that dumb to fool and continued to look at her. "Hinata, is there something you wanted to tell me?"

"I...uh..."

The door burst open then and saved the Hyuuga from answering his question. Ino had come running in wearing her nurse's outfit. Her shift mustn't have finished yet. She came over to Hinata's side of the bed and stared to pull on her wrist, coaxing her out of the bed.

"Come on, Hinata, Tenten's having her baby!" She cried.

"What? Now?" She was a bit easier to get out of bed now. "Where is she?"

"She's down the hall. Come on," Ino gave another light tug.

Hinata looked over at Naruto and he nodded toward the door, signaling her to go to Tenten. She gave him a smile and took off with Ino down the hall. As they passed hall after hall, they met up with anxious Yuki along with an equally anxious Sakura. They all entered Tenten's room where she was more than happy to see their familiar faces.

* * *

><p>It was six hours into labor now, and Sakura felt frustrated. She was a medical ninja and couldn't do anything for Tenten. Seeing her friend in pain contraction after contraction made her feel useless. Sakura could also tell that both Yuki and Ino felt the same way, but what could they do? In this case, they had to let nature take it's course and wait until it was time.<p>

Tenten started to scream in pain and Sakura rushed over to take her hand. Ino held her hand the last time and after seeing the bruise, she was a bit reluctant to do so. But it was a small price to pay for her friend's comfort. Tenten's grip was fierce which was no surprise considering she was kunoichi who dealt with heavy weapons and such. Sakura tried to not let Tenten see her face as she squeezed down because she knew it would make her feel bad. Again, this was all she could do.

Around the eighth hour, Tenten was only half way there before she was allowed to push. The sweat had matted her hair down to her pillow and she was groaning in discomfort. Though she had extreme discomfort, Tenten had refused any drugs that would ease her pain. She said that her and Neji talked about natural birth, considering it was the best and healthiest way to deliver. Plus, that was how the Hyuuga clan did it.

Ever since her and Neji got together, Tenten focused on getting used to their customs. She couldn't attend meetings, but Neji would tell her what was going on. When he was away, she would spend time with Hinata or any other female Hyuuga member, just to see what their role was within the clan. Of course, Hinata's role was a bit different considering she was of the main branch, but she was still very helpful. And when Tenten and Neji were together, they were inseparable.

"Where's Neji?" Tenten moaned.

She was laying on her side and Sakura was taking the shift of being with her for this hour. Ino and Yuki stepped out to take care of some of their hospital duties while Hinata had to go check on Naruto. About three hours ago, Tsunade had come to check on Tenten but there wasn't much progress. Sakura was also visited by Sasuke and she told him to go back home, saying that she probably wasn't leaving the hospital until Neji got there.

"We're trying to get a hold of him." She told her while rubbing her back. Sakura knew that this was soothing for her, but it wasn't much to cure the pain.

Neji had left on a mission about four days ago and he was scheduled to come back today, but that was back around noon time. Now, it well into the late night and it wasn't looking as if he was coming until morning.

"I want him," she sniffled. Tears silently slide down her cheeks as she buried her face in her pillow. Tenten was a tough kunoichi and just seeing the tears broke Sakura's heart. "I want Neji..."

This wasn't her first time delivering a child. Sakura had helped plenty of experienced doctors deliver children, but because Tenten was her friend, it pained her to see her this way. Was it going to be like that for her? She placed her hand on her stomach and thought to herself.

"It's alright, it's alright," she smoothed out Tenten's matted hair and whispered.

The next few hours were brutal. Sakura was feeling a bit sleep deprived from staying up all night with her and if she felt this bad, Tenten must've felt a hundred times worse. She checked all her vitals and how far along she was. Just a few more centimeters and it'll be time to deliver. It was starting to drive her crazy not knowing where Neji was. Every time Tenten asked, she had to lie saying he'd be there soon.

Shizune had come into the room and evaluated Tenten's vitals following how far along she was. She gave a beaming smile. "I think it's time," she told them.

"What? No! It can't be time!" Tenten's voice rose two octaves. "Neji's not here yet!"

"I'm sorry, Tenten, but we have to take you to the delivery room." Shizune told her.

"No, no, no," she shook her head, "I can't!" Tenten started to cry and moan as the contractions got worse. "Sakura!"

The pink haired kunoichi leapt to her side and took hold of her hand. "What is it?" She asked.

"Where is he? I can't have this baby without him!" There was no holding back the tears now. She gripped Sakura's hand and pressed her forehead to her hand. "If he's not here, can you please not leave me?"

All she could do was nod. "Of course, I won't leave you." She promised.

"I'm so scared." She muttered.

"I know...Me too." Sakura agreed.

As they were wheeling her down to the delivery room, there was a ruckus not too far away. The voice was familiar as it was calling for Tenten. Her head perked up and she demanded that they stopped where they were. Of course Shizune was against it, but Sakura was there to make sure she got what she wanted.

"Tenten! Tenten!" Neji called. He didn't know where she was.

"NEJI!" She hollered back. Her screams were much louder than his because they had a boost from her contractions.

He sped past the nurses that were trying to stop him and went to Tenten's side. She released Sakura's hand and grabbed either side of his face. Their kiss sent chills down Sakura's arms and raising the hairs on the back of her neck. She backed away and felt relieved. She also felt less scared. Knowing that they had each other, it seemed as if they could accomplish anything.

"Come on, we have to get to the delivery room." Shizune told them.

They broke apart and Sakura smiled, nodding for them to go ahead. She told them that she'd be waiting for them after everything. Tenten thanked her and told her to go get some sleep, considering she hadn't slept a wink last night. Sakura humored her request and nodded, watching as they went through the doors to the room. Taking a deep breath, she made her way down to the waiting room. She found the most comfortable looking chair and sat back, awaiting for sleep to take her as she waited.

* * *

><p>Hinata came back to the hospital and saw Sakura still sleeping in the waiting room. She knew she had to wake her, but she looked too peaceful. Instead, she went to visit Naruto. He, too, was asleep but it was about to wake him anyway. She slowly stroked his cheek and brushed away his stray hairs from his eyes. Again, he sighed at her touch. It was as if he knew whenever she was around.<p>

This made her smile and lean down toward his ear. She whispered, "Wake up, Naruto. I have something to show you."

She had to shake him a few times, but eventually his eyes began to flutter open. When his vision cleared, he smiled at her. His hand went to his aching head and winced at the sudden pain since he forgot about the gash.

"Take it easy," she told him and helped him to sit up. "How're you feeling?"

He stretched and yawned before shrugging. "Not so bad."

"That's good because I wanted to show you something." She took his hand and helped him out of bed.

He wrapped his rob around him and walked with her down the hall. They had to take the elevator down a few floors, but they came out on the third floor. He kept bugging her as to where they were going but she wouldn't answer. Hinata was sly. She made sure that he didn't read the signs leading to which floor held which practice until they came out to a large glass window. Inside were hundreds of small beds which held newborn children. Various pinks and blues lined every other bed along with small round babies.

"What are we doing here?" He asked.

"Do you see the baby in the pink blanket, third one from the right in the second row?" She asked and pointed in the direction. He nodded. "That's Tenten and Neji's daughter, Hana."

Naruto's jaw dropped. "Sh-She had the baby? Already?" He couldn't believe it.

She nodded, "Yup." Taking his hand, she started to trace circles in his palm as her eyes never met his. He looked down at her and waited for her to say something else. "I love you."

"I know." He said softly. "I love you too."

She knew. She had always known but he rarely ever said it. Hinata knew that he was afraid to lose her like he did his parents, and that was why he never really said it. For a child growing up without having that constant love, she could relate. Ever since her mother died, she never clicked with her father and therefore never got the attention a normal child would get with their parents. On a level, she could understand his problem. Though, this made those words very special to her whenever he did say them.

"Naruto," she started and looked up at him. She could tell he was waiting for her. "I'm...I'm pregnant." Hinata waited for his response.

It took a while for those words to sink in and then like a firework he went off. He picked her up and spun her around while he laughed. Tears streamed his face as he nuzzled into the crook of her neck. She wrapped her arms around his neck when he finally put her down and imitated his nuzzling. They stood there for a while as both of them soaked in this moment. Hinata, obviously, already knew the feeling, but now that he knew, she felt even better. She felt ready for the next step.


End file.
